So I propose a toast
To fists unraveling, to glass unshattering
To breaking all the rules, to breaking bread again
We're swallowing light, we're swallowing our pride
We're raising our glass, till we're fixed from the inside

"Taste"
Sleeping At Last

LUCY:

After spending the morning of our Hogsmeade visit at Honeyduke's and Gladrags Wizardwear, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I made our way to the place Sirius told us to meet him. I couldn't help but be a little nervous. I tried to force my worries from my mind, but just before we rounded the last bend, I couldn't stop myself.

"Do you think Sirius will like me?" I burst out.

Ron laughed. "You're about to meet someone who 365 days ago we all thought was a mass murderer out to kill Harry, and you're worried about him liking you?"

I blushed. "Well, yeah." Last time I met him, I did try to kill him... I was in my werewolf form at the time, but still...

"You worry too much," Harry said matter-of-factly. He grinned. "And you can stop worrying now, because there he is!"

Surely enough, a big black dog with newspapers in its mouth was watching us approach, wagging its tail excitedly. After sniffing Harry's bag, Sirius turned around and trotted away. We followed him out of the village and up into the hills. After about half an hour, we reached a rock fissure that led to a cave.

The second Buckbeak saw me, he started straining at his ropes.

"It would seem you have a friend, Lucy," Sirius commented, now a human.

I smiled, cheeks flushing as I pulled a piece of three-day-old bread from my pocket. "I think he's hoping I have this."

Surely enough, at the sight of his favorite snack, Buckbeak strained even harder. As Sirius dove into the bag of food Harry had carried, I rushed forward and threw my arms around Buckbeak's neck, burying my face in his feathers. He bent his head low around me in response like a hug. I pulled away and offered him the bread, which he devoured in a single swallow.

"You're lucky I have two pockets, Beaky," I said with a shake of my head as I pulled out the second piece. Once that one disappeared too, I turned back to the group.

"What're you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather. I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade, I'd draw attention to myself. Don't worry about it, though, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray." He tore a massive piece off the drumstick in his hand and looked up at Harry, who didn't seem to find this attempt at humor very funny. I knew Harry was worried --- and I couldn't really blame him, I was worried too. But at the same time, it was nice knowing Sirius was there to support Harry; Merlin knows Harry needed it. "I want to be on the spot. Your last letter... well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried."

"What if they catch you? What if you're seen?"

"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus."

I shifted, thinking to myself, Harry, if I can keep being a werewolf a secret from almost everyone for nearly ten years... Sirius will be fine. Hermione glanced at me as if she'd read my mind and bit back a smile.

Ron and Harry pored over the newspapers together. I grabbed one of the chicken bones and tossed it to Buckbeak. He lowered himself to his haunches, inviting me to sit with him. I did so, and Hermione and I stroked his feathers.

Harry was the first to speak again. "They're making it sound like Crouch is dying, but he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here."

"My brother's Crouch's personal assistant, and he says Crouch is suffering from overwork," Ron said to Sirius.

Harry shrugged. "He did look ill, last time I saw him up close. The night my name came out of the goblet."

Hermione straightened up. "Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he? I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now! Bet he feels the difference now she's not there to look after him!"

"Crouch sacked his house-elf?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded and filled him in on the events of that horrible night after the Quidditch World Cup match. I sat back and let the other three do the talking; my experience that night had been very different from theirs.

When he was done, Sirius started as if he'd had a realization. "Let me get this straight. You first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was saving Crouch a seat, right?"

"Right."

"But Crouch didn't turn up for the match?"

"No. I think he said he'd been too busy."

"Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?"

Harry paused. "Erm... no. I didn't need to use it before we got in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket, and all that was in there were my Omnioculars. Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?"

"It's possible," he replied with a shrug.

"Winky didn't steal that wand!" Hermione said loudly.

"The elf couldn't have been the only one in that box... who else was sitting behind you?"

"Loads of people. Some Bulgarian ministers, Cornelius Fudge, the Malfoys-"

"The Malfoys! I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!" Ron exclaimed.

"Anyone else?" Sirius pressed.

"Ludo Bagman."

I exhaled sharply but quietly through my nose. He was not one of my favorite people for several reasons. I doubted he was evil, but he was certainly a snake.

"I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps. What's he like?"

"He keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament," Harry said.

Sirius furrowed his brow. "I wonder why he'd do that."

"He says he's taken a liking to me," Harry replied.

A brief pause followed.

"We... did see him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared," Hermione said.

Ron shook his head. "Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he? The moment we told him about the riot, he went off to the campsite."

"How d'you know? How d'you know where he disapparated to?"

"Come off it, Hermione! Are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?" Ron asked.

"It's more likely he did it than Winky!"

He shot an exasperated look at Sirius. "Told you she's obsessed with house-"

"When the Dark Mark had been conjured, and the elf had been discovered holding Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?" Sirius interrupted.

Harry thought for a second before answering. "Went to look in the bushes, but there wasn't anyone else there."

"Of course, of course, he'd want to pin it on anyone but his own elf... and then he sacked her?"

Hermione nodded angrily. "Yes, he sacked her, just because she hadn't stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled-"

"Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf?" Ron burst out.

Sirius waved his hand to calm the pair of them down. "She's got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." Sirius paused. "All these absences of Barty Crouch's... he goes to the trouble of making sure his house-elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to turn up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, and then stops coming to that too. It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak."

"D'you know Crouch, then?" Harry asked.

"Oh I know Crouch alright. He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban without a trial."

All four of us shouted "What?!" at once.

"No, I'm not kidding. Wish I was, trust me. Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know?"

We all shook our heads.

"He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic. He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, powerfully magical, and power-hungry. Oh, never a Voldemort supporter. No, Barty Crouch was always very outspoken against the Dark Side. But then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side... well, you wouldn't understand, you're too young-"

Ron stiffened. "That's what my dad said at the World Cup. Try us, why don't you?"

Sirius grinned. "Alright, I will. Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing. The Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere, panic, confusion. That's how it used to be."

I looked at Harry to see how he was doing. I could tell he was fighting to keep his face devoid of any emotion; it couldn't have been easy for him to hear this all.

"Well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Crouch's principles might've been good in the beginning --- I wouldn't know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors were given new powers, to kill rather than capture, for instance. And I wasn't the only one who was handed straight to the dementors without trial. Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorized the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side. He had his supporters, mind you, plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way, and there were a lot of witches and wizards clamoring for him to take over as Minister of Magic. When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But then something rather unfortunate happened... Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."

"Crouch's son was caught?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Yep! Nasty little shock for old Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while... gotten to know his own son."

"Was his son a Death Eater?" Harry inquired.

"No idea. I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I've found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death Eaters, but he might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the house-elf."

Hermione shifted. "Did Crouch try and get his son off?"

"Crouch let his son off? I thought you had the measure of him, Hermione!" Sirius laughed. "Anything that threatened to tarnish his reputation had to go; he had dedicated his whole life to becoming Minister of Magic. You saw him dismiss a devoted house-elf because she associated him with the Dark Mark again, doesn't that tell you what he's like? Crouch's fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, and by all accounts, it wasn't much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the boy, then he sent him straight to Azkaban."

"He gave his own son to the dementors?" Harry asked disbelievingly.

Sirius nodded. "I saw the dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can't have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though... they all went quiet in the end, except when they shrieked in their sleep..."

A troubled, distant look crossed Sirius's face.

"So he's still in Azkaban?" Harry asked after a moment.

"No. No, he's not in there anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in."

"He died?"

"He wasn't the only one. Most go mad in there, and plenty stop eating in the end. They lose the will to live. You could always tell when a death was coming, because the dementors could sense it, they got excited. That boy looked pretty sickly when he arrived. Crouch being an important Ministry member, he and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit. That was the last time I saw Barty Crouch, half-carrying his wife past my cell. She died herself, apparently, shortly afterward. Grief. Wasted away just like the boy. Crouch never came for his son's body. The dementors buried him outside the fortress; I watched them do it. So... old Crouch lost it all, just when he thought he had it made. One moment, a hero, poised to become Minister of Magic; next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonored, and, so I've heard since I escaped, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his father never cared much for him. So Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

Buckbeak nudged me then. I hadn't realized I was picking at my fingers --- a fairly recent nervous habit. He nudged me again, and I leaned back against his warmth in the coolness of the cave.

We talked a bit longer with Sirius, about everything that had happened with Snape and about the Tournament. At half past three, he said we should head back to school, telling Harry in no uncertain terms not to sneak out of school to see him.

"No one's tried to attack me so far, except a dragon and a couple of grindylows," Harry remarked with a stupid grin.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I don't care. I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over, and that's not until June."

"You and me both," I commented, sighing.

"Ah, yeah, you've got two horses in this race, haven't you?"

I huffed a laugh. "Something like that."

"Wait a second," he said, suddenly pointing at me. "Susan. Susan Diggory. That's your mother's name, right?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, it is. Why do you ask?"

"Do you remember --- well, you'd probably be too young to remember. You would have been a baby. But Barty Crouch Junior..." His voice trailed off, and he crossed his arms, looking down at the floor. "When people screamed in their sleep, it was usually just nonsense. But I'm thinking your mother must have been the one to bring him in, because he never stopped screaming curses at her in his sleep."

I shuddered. "In that case, I'm glad he's dead."

Sirius nodded. "Sorry, I don't know why that just now clicked."

"It's alright." I closed my eyes and tried to remember. But remembering was so hard for me, always had been, even before I knew I had a whole other family halfway across the world that had been wiped from memory. Cedric and I both reckoned losing something so substantial must have affected my ability to make new memories to an extent, especially when I was younger. I opened my eyes again. "Now that you mention it, you're right. I think my mom and Professor Moody worked together to bring him in. I could be wrong, though, I'll ask Cedric."

Sirius rose to his feet. "I'll admit I'm curious now. I'll walk down with you four, try to snag another paper-"

Buckbeak made a low growl in his throat when I stood as well, making everyone laugh. After I stroked his feathers a couple more times, he allowed us to leave.

"Oh, one more thing, you four. If you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?"

Ron stifled a laugh. "You got it."

We made our way back to the village and headed in the direction of Hogwarts. In the morning, I'd been too preoccupied with thoughts of Sirius and Buckbeak to really notice we were walking past the Black Lake, but since all four of us were lost in our own thoughts, my eyes wandered to the water.

It was a place I really only went when everything was horrible. The first time I had run there, it was because Draco Malfoy had punched me at the Quidditch match. I had returned a couple of times over the years --- when the petrifications had started, when I had been asked what career I wanted in the future, the day after Cedric and Professor Lupin left. It was a spot I reserved only for my deepest sorrows, so it seemed only fitting it would be the site of the second task of the tournament I had never wanted to happen.

The tournament... Sirius had said Crouch had worked "very hard" to bring the tournament back. Why did Barty Crouch Jr. care so much about the tournament? Surely there would have been a better way to ensure "international magical cooperation" than kidnapping the champions' loved ones and-

A hand reached out and grabbed me by the elbow.

"Lu, you okay?"

Harry.

I nodded, my eyes not leaving the lake. "Just lost in thought, I guess. Why?"

When he didn't respond, I turned to face him. I'd wandered a couple feet from the other three, in the direction of the lake. As if it were pulling me. Beckoning to me. Summoning me. It was eerie.

I forced a laugh. "I guess I was really lost in thought." I let Harry pull me back to the others and fell into step with them.

"What were you thinking about?" Ron asked.

"What Sir- Snuffles said about Barty Crouch," I admitted. "About how badly he wanted the tournament to happen."

"Well, I suppose he thought it would be a good way to build international magical cooperation," Hermione replied. "That's what it's always done in the past, anyway, and I'm sure he figured a return to tradition might be wise after the unrest at Hogwarts the past couple of years."

"That's just the thing," I said. "The unrest at Hogwarts. Why bring the tournament here, if it happens at all? Why not host it somewhere else? Or, better yet, why not skip the tournament altogether and just have mindless fun, the way the Yule Ball was, or the Quidditch match? Valentine's Day notwithstanding," I added under my breath with a sheepish smile Harry's direction as a blush crawled up my neck to my cheeks.

He good-naturedly bumped my shoulder with his. "Well, that just goes without saying. Maxence I-don't-know-something-French can go fight a dragon with nothing but his princely looks." He dodged my attempt to swat his arm, laughing. "What? I hope he does. But you're right, Lu. Of all the things in the world, why bring back a tournament with a death count, then stop showing up?"

I glanced out at the lake again, shuddering a second later.

Harry bumped my shoulder again, more urgently this time. "Don't worry, Lu, you'll never have to go in there again. Unless Hagrid decides to have a hands-on lesson on merpeople-"

He didn't dodge me in time, and my palm connected with his tricep. "Don't you dare say that again, he might think it's a good idea."

"What's wrong with it?" he asked innocently.

I didn't respond out loud, opting instead to offer a speculative gaze.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I smiled, hoping I looked as innocent as he'd tried to sound. "Just wondering how far I could shove your Firebolt if you ever did decide to tell Hagrid about your new lesson plan."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all laughed heartily at that. Once the laughter died down, Harry brightened, diving into the pocket of his robes.

"You know what, I actually have a better idea!"

"It's hard to have a worse one," I said with no shortage of sass.

He rolled his eyes and brought out the pairs of socks we had helped him choose earlier. "Want to go meet Dobby?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, walking faster. Harry laughed again, and we made our way to the kitchens.

Dobby was overjoyed by the socks. The expression on his face was so radiant, so joyful, I couldn't help but smile as I introduced myself.

"I have heard about you, Lucy Diggory!" he said with a wide grin. "I have seen you, too, that night after the Bludger."

"I would have loved to see you too," I replied with an amused glance at Harry, who shook his head, laughing, at my Merlin-awful attempt at a joke.

"Dobby, where's Winky?" Hermione asked.

Dobby's face fell. "Winky is over there by the fire, miss."

"Oh dear," she said worriedly, glancing over at the fire, where the small figure of an elf with drooping ears was silhouetted by the roaring fire. I walked over, unsure of how to help but wanting to.

"Winky is getting through six bottles a day now," Dobby whispered. I turned to see everyone had followed me over.

"Well, it's not strong, that stuff," Harry said.

I shook my head. "Strong for house-elves." I knelt in front of Winky and offered a smile. "Hi there, Winky. I don't believe we've met. I'm Lucy."

She swayed slightly, clutching her butterbeer. Her eyes were wide and glassy, but they cleared ever so slightly when she saw me. Encouraged by this, I pressed on.

"Do you like butterbeer?"

She nodded. "It... helps." She hiccupped so violently she nearly dropped the bottle.

"I like butterbeer too," I said. "Would you mind if I borrow your bottle for a bit? I didn't get any this morning, and I'm a bit thirsty."

She nodded again and held the bottle out to me.

"Thank you, Winky!" I smiled, holding the butterbeer out behind my back. Ron understood immediately what I had done and snatched it from my hands.

Dobby tugged on Harry's sleeve to get his attention, whispering in a low voice, "Winky wants to go home. Winky still thinks Mr. Crouch is her master, sir, and nothing Dobby says will persuade her that Professor Dumbledore is her master now."

Harry knelt beside me. "Hey, Winky, you don't know what Mr. Crouch might be up to, do you? Because he's stopped turning up to judge the Triwizard Tournament."

"M-Master is stopped coming?" she asked, turning to face Harry with her massive eyes.

"Yeah, we haven't seen him since the first task. The Daily Prophet is saying he's ill."

Her eyes welled up with tears. "Master... ill?"

"We don't know that for sure," I said quickly, reaching forward to catch her before she toppled off her stool. "That's why we need your help. You were very helpful to Mr. Crouch, and we need to know if he's ever acted like this before while he was well."

She shook her head, ears flapping. "Master is needing his Winky! Master cannot... manage... all by himself..."

"Other people manage to do their own housework, you know, Winky," Hermione asserted.

"Did you do other jobs for Mr. Crouch, Winky?" I asked in a vain attempt to calm the elf.

"Winky is not only doing housework for Mr. Crouch! Master is trusting Winky with the most important... the most secret..."

"What?" Harry prodded after a moment.

"Winky keeps her master's secrets! You is nosing, you is."

"Winky, we just-" I tried to say, but Dobby jumped in to defend Harry.

"Winky must not talk like that to Harry Potter! Harry Potter is brave and noble and Harry Potter is not nosy!"

"He is nosing into my master's private and secret... Winky is a good house-elf... Winky keeps her silence... people trying to pry and poke and..."

"Harry, catch her," I muttered as she toppled to his side of the stool, her eyelids fluttering shut. He lunged forward and steadied her, but she remained unconscious.

Before I could help, a dozen house elves rushed forward and covered her with a tablecloth.

"We is sorry you had to see that, sirs and miss! We is hoping you will not judge us all by Winky, sirs and miss!"

"She's unhappy! Why don't you try and cheer her up instead of covering her up?" Hermione asked, sounding on the verge of an explosive angry outburst.

"Begging your pardon, miss, but house-elves has no right to be unhappy when there is work to be done and masters to be served."

Hermione stamped her foot. "Oh for heaven's sake! Listen to me, all of you! You've got just as much right as wizards to be unhappy! You've got the right to wages and holidays and proper clothes, you don't have to do everything you're told! Look at Dobby!"

"Hermione," I said warningly, noticing the way Dobby wilted under the glare of the other elves.

An elf shoved a large amount of food into Harry's arms. "We has your extra food! Good-bye!"

They started shoving us toward the door, but I knelt down and whispered to the elf nearest to me, "I can take Winky with me to the Come-and-Go Room. I'm on my way there now."

He stopped pushing, his eyes widening. "You know of the...?"

I nodded.

He looked at the retreating forms of my friends, then back at the lump of tablecloth that was Winky.

"I can revive her, too," I said. "Please. I'd like to help. I like helping, just the same as you."

"But you is... you is a witch."

I smiled. "I'm Lucy. What's your name?"

"Plucky," he replied shyly. "You will really help Winky? You do not think less of us because of her?"

"Not at all, Plucky. I'd be happy to help."

He nodded and led me by the hand to the other elves. Winky was already sitting up, the tablecloth wrapped loosely around her like a blanket. Plucky explained my offer to the house-elves, who were all too happy to be rid of her for a while.

Winky refused to hold my hand or let me carry her, but I walked slowly enough that she could reach forward and grab my leg if she stumbled. I was originally planning on using the Room of Requirement to revisit my memory from that day at the beach a decade ago in attempt to chase away the nightmare from the night under the Black Lake, but Winky needed it more than I did. Besides, that nightmare was a one-time occurrence... or so I thought.

March 16, 1995 - 10:20 PM

Cedric didn't want to sleep. He bent lower over the book detailing the development of the wolfsbane potion, looking for anything he might be able to use one day to help his sister, and turned the page as quietly as possible, because he thought Henry was asleep in the bed next to him.

Henry folded the corner of the letter under his pillow. Then laid it flat. Then folded it. Then laid it flat again. The Triwizard Tournament had added new ideas to his recurring nightmare, ideas involving dragons and giant squids.

And Lucy, now a werewolf in the Room of Requirement, was sound asleep through it all.

March 24, 1995 - 6:24 AM

I jolted awake, panting.

The nightmare from the Black Lake had returned.

I was at the bottom, alone in the dark and the cold.

I was at the bottom, with no Cedric coming to rescue me.

I was at the bottom, until the world around me faded to black.

I was no stranger to recurring nightmares. But to have that one not once but twice shook me to the core.

April 15, 1995 - 10:20 PM

George glanced over at the window seat, expecting it to be empty. Instead, Harry sat there, a small smile on his face as he scribbled something on the piece of parchment in his lap.

Fred followed his twin's gaze. "What kind of homework makes you smile?" he wondered aloud.

And Lucy, now a werewolf in the Room of Requirement, was sound asleep through it all.

April 24, 1995 - 6:24 AM

My eyes snapped open, and I gasped for air.

The nightmare had come back to haunt me a third time.

At the bottom of the Black Lake, in the dark, in the cold, in the solitude. No Cedric in sight. No one coming to save me.

The darkness closing in. Swallowing me whole. Blinding me with despair.

I shoved my blankets off and sat on the edge of my bed, my back to my still-sleeping roommates.

The nightmare was getting worse. Nothing about it changed, not really, except for the way it made me feel.

Every time, it got darker. Colder. More lonely.

Every time, the darkness closed in a little bit sooner, and waited a little bit longer before releasing me to the safety of the morning.

I tried to push it away. But every time, the darkness felt a little bit more real.

May 14, 1995 - 10:20 PM

Hermione was bustling around the Gryffindor common room with a quill and a notepad. She talked to George and Angelina and Fred and Alicia and Neville and Ginny and Seamus and Lavender and Dean and Parvati.

Ron was in the common room as well, in the corner talking to Colin Creevey and sifting through pictures. His brows were knit together with concentration, an expression only seen on his face during games of wizard's chess or when he was trying to understand what in Merlin's name Hermione was on about again.

And Lucy, now a werewolf in the Room of Requirement, was sound asleep through it all.

I was dragged out of bed and down the stairs to the common room by Hermione before I'd even opened my eyes all the way.

"Whazthematter?" I asked.

"The matter is that it's taken until fourth year for me to figure out your birthday," she said, shoving me onto the window seat, sitting next to me, and shoving a package into my hands. "Ron should be here any-"

Ron grinned as he crossed the room. "Harry's gonna be so bloody pissed we beat him to this."

"Now go on, open it," Hermione urged.

Feeling a bit more alert --- and skeptical --- I tugged on the ribbon until the bow came undone in my hands and peeled off the purple paper. A small scrapbook of sorts fell into my lap.

Ron impatiently yanked the wrapping paper out of my hands, threw it onto the ground, and opened the book to the first page, still grinning. "Well, I thought about what we talked about on my birthday-"

"And I happened to overhear-"

"And we put our heads together. Fortunately for us, you've never really noticed just how many pictures Colin Creevey takes."

I squinted at the first page. My face was covered in blood, just like Krum's had been at the World Cup, but the Quaffle was firmly in my grip, and I stared straight ahead as my braids whipped in the wind behind me. "Hold on... is this from the first Quidditch match, second year? When I broke my nose?"

"Told you she wouldn't need the captions," Ron muttered to Hermione.

She waved him off and continued excitedly, "We wanted to get Harry to help, too, but he said he already had his own thing planned when we asked him about it. So we figured we might as well try to get to you first."

I glanced out the window. "What time is it?"

"Four minutes after midnight," Hermione announced triumphantly. "We wanted you to see the Lucy we see. So we worked with Colin to find the best pictures to match that. How much you love Quidditch, for one."

The three of us flipped through the dozen or so pictures, laughing at some and cringing at others. Hermione and I with our heads bowed together, deep in conversation the night we had rescued Ginny from the Chamber and Hermione had been brought back by the mandrakes, my eyes shining with excitement to have her back. My bear patronus combining with Harry's non-corporeal patronus to charge down the Slytherin "dementors" in a blue blaze of glory. The whole Gryffindor table laughing at the antics of the twins, me more so than anybody else. A picture of me hugging Gabrielle on our way back to the castle after the second task, and Fleur jumping on top of me, too, thankful that I had been able to comfort her sister the night before in Professor McGonagall's office.

At the end of the book was a small collection of pieces of parchment. It seemed that Hermione had taken on the role of a less-sinister Rita Skeeter and asked around to see what people really thought of me, writing down their responses word-for-word. Although Harry may not have helped collect pictures, his comment about me made me blush more than anyone else's.

"What I think about Lucy? Why? Oh, for that project for her birthday? Wait, what was the question again? What do I think of Lucy? Hermione, what kind of a question- alright, alright, I'll answer it. It's just hard to really say, other than that, well, she's always there when I need her. And she just... understands. Explain more? Uh, sure, well, what I mean is that whenever I have a problem, I turn to her first, you know? I just know she'll be there. I just hope she knows I'll always be there for her too if she needs me, but, er, I think... well, I can't even imagine her really needing anything, from me especially. She's just... Lucy. She's the best. Oh, bloody hell, here she comes, put that away!"

I laughed, putting my hand over my mouth as I did so both to try to make it quieter and to hide the way I was furiously, furiously blushing.

"Was this last week? When I went to bed early, then realized I left my quill downstairs?"

"Yes!" Hermione burst out, thoroughly exasperated. "Then as soon as you left, he decided to go to bed, too, and I wasn't able to get him alone again."

"His was the hardest to get in the first place, you two are damn near inseparable," Ron chuckled. "And Hermione didn't trust me not to screw up the enchantment on the quill she used to record everything in real time, so I couldn't ask him."

I threw my arms around their necks. "I love it so much. Thank you."

"Happy birthday, Lucy," they said in unison.

I bit back a giggle; they were so rarely in agreement on anything. I guess I'm one thing they can agree on, I thought to myself, feeling warmth spread in my chest at the thought.

"Now go back to bed," Hermione said firmly. "Merlin knows what Harry has planned for tomorrow, if it was somehow better than this."

I dragged a hand down my face. "Merlin. I can't even... fathom that."

The next morning, Harry and Ron weren't in the common room when I walked down with Hermione, so we made our way down to breakfast. Ron arrived a couple minutes later, alone.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked.

Ron shrugged. "Wasn't there when I woke up." He looked pointedly at me, trying very hard not to smile. "You haven't heard from him, have you?"

"Er, no. Not yet." I shifted. "I'm sure he'll be here any minute now. Maybe he's just, I don't know, paying Myrtle a visit."

That got sarcastic laughs out of everyone around me, but I was nervous. Part of me wondered if he was still working on whatever it was for my birthday --- he did have a tendency to procrastinate --- but after what Sirius had said two and a half months prior, I found I was never able to fully relax unless Harry was right there beside me. Things were stirring, and not for the better.

I was distracted from my worrying by Cedric, who lobbed a wadded-up piece of parchment at my face with a smile. I ducked under the table to read it, away from the twins' prying eyes.

Happy birthday, Lu! I would come over and say it to you face-to-face, but I know you have fun keeping it a secret.

Meet me out on the dock after you eat lunch, I'll give you your present then. Harry called dibs on after dinner tonight.

I crumpled the parchment back up and shoved it into my pocket, bouncing back up and flashing a smile and a thumbs-up at Cedric.

"He just wants me to meet him at lunch," I said before anyone could ask. "Something about needing help with gift ideas for Cho, her birthday's in June."

Ron bit his lip to keep from laughing, whereas Hermione looked somewhat impressed by how easily the lie had slipped off my tongue.

"Why are you blushing, then?" Fred asked, raising his eyebrows suspiciously.

"Thinking about what a certain someone you fancy might do on your birthday?" George pressed.

Ron and Hermione both busted up laughing as I blushed. George doesn't know it's my birthday... does he? I shook my head violently back and forth. "No, no, of course not. You both know- well- no, of course I'm not thinking about that. I just- we-" I glanced toward the door, hoping to see Harry, but he still hadn't showed. "I hope Harry's alright," I said, opting for a change of topic. "It's not like him to miss breakfast. He doesn't have Ron's appetite, but-"

"Yeah, nice try," Fred said. He nudged me with his elbow. "We all know why you were blushing."

I shook my head again. "Oh, shove off." I looked at Ron. "Wait, why are you laughing? How do you know about...?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm insulted. You might have had Hermione fooled for a while, but I'm not blind."

Hermione swatted his arm. "Hey!"

"What? It's true! Anyone with eyes can see the way she looks at Har-"

"Shh! He might be coming!" I interrupted as I glanced around worriedly.

But Harry didn't show until the bell rang, signaling for us to head to class. I grabbed a couple pieces of toast and hurried over to him.

"Here," I said, holding my hand out. "Everything alright?"

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah, just a change of plans." He accepted the toast, shifted the bookbag on his shoulder, and smiled. "Happy birthday, Lu," he said in a quiet voice. "I promise, I won't let the change of plans stop me."

I blushed as I returned his smile. "Thanks, Harry. Don't worry about it, though, I-"

"Stupid self-sacrificing Gryffindor." He ate half a piece of toast in one bite and raised his eyebrows at me. Hermione and Ron joined us then, and the four of us headed to History of Magic.

Five minutes into the lesson, Harry scribbled something onto a piece of parchment and slid it over to me.

Are you afraid of heights?

I glanced over at him. "What?" I mouthed.

He nodded at the parchment and looked back up at me, adjusting the glasses on his nose and raising his eyebrows in a Well? gesture.

I would be a very shoddy Quidditch player if I were.

I slid the parchment back at him, fighting not to smile when I heard him stifle a laugh. He scribbled something else and passed it back.

Alright, second question. Are you on good terms with any other hippogriffs?

"What the hell?" I mouthed at him.

He reached over and took the parchment back for a second before sliding it back.

Like I said, change of plans.

The hippogriffs all like me, yeah. Why?

Instead of replying, he offered me a cheesy smile and folded the piece of parchment in four, tucking it into his pocket. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion before turning back to Professor Binns. I tried asking him about it on our way to Herbology, and again on our way to lunch, but he just smiled whenever I pestered him. I could tell the gears were turning in his mind, and I was waiting on pins and needles to see what the bloody hell Harry James Potter had in mind.

After I had downed a sandwich, I made my way down to the dock of the Black Lake.

"You know, I've never come down here for a good reason," I called when I saw Ced sitting at the edge with his bare feet dangling over the water.

He turned around and smiled. "I know. I figured I should try to change that."

I settled on the dock beside him, and he dug into his bag.

"I know you already got a book from Ron and Hermione," he said, passing a box into my hands, "but I know for a fact it wasn't this one."

I popped the lid off. Inside was a book titled A Guide to Making Memories Last. Below the book laid a number of small vials, like the ones in the jar at the bottom of my chest in my dormitory. I could see that three were already filled with the silvery wisps of memory, leaving about five others still empty.

"I had to make sure it worked," he explained. "One of those is of our last night at Tahoe, since you said that's how you conjured your patronus. Then one is of your sixth birthday, which I realized would have been your first with us in Ottery St. Catchpole. And one is just a memory of us flying around as kids. I can't remember a date or even a year for that one, but you remember those days, right?"

I nodded, staring at the book in my hands with wonder.

"I don't know if it'll be able to bring any obliviated memories back," he admitted, "but I thought that, well, it wouldn't hurt to try."

I set the box down and threw my arms around Cedric. "I love it. Thank you, Cedric, I can't wait to start trying."

He hugged back. "I wish I could do more to help, but hopefully this is a good start. I'll get you more when the time comes, but I figured seven was a good place to start. Seven years at Hogwarts and all."

"And I'll start now, with this moment!" I said, opening the book. "Alright, what page?"

My brother laughed. "It might take a bit of time to get the hang of it, Lu. It was about a week for me before I was able to do it."

"So let's start now!" I said again, having fun pestering him just a little bit. "What page, Ced, what page?"

He laughed even harder, managing to say, "I think there's a bookmark in there somewhere. But we should probably head back, class will start soon."

"Potions. Awesome." I rolled my eyes. "Happy birthday to me."

"Give Professor Snape my best. Or my worst, whichever you feel like passing along."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Cedric Amos Diggory! How could you say such a thing about an esteemed Hogwarts professor?"

"I graduate in a little over a year and I've been nothing but polite to him... well, to his face anyway. I think I've earned a bit of a break."

I couldn't disagree with that. I made it through Potions, then Transfiguration, then DADA, then dinner, my anxiety mounting as I wondered what in the name of Godric Gryffindor himself Harry had planned. Or, rather, what Harry's change of plans entailed. After dinner, I tried to lose myself in the crowd, my nerves getting the best of me, but I felt an arm loop around mine and pull me back.

"Nice try, Diggory," Harry said with a laugh. "Come on."

"Harry, it's fine, you don't have to do anything-"

He pulled me closer, saying in my ear, "If you don't stop protesting, I'll tell all the Weasleys what today is. And I mean all of them. I'm sure Mrs. Weasley wouldn't mind knitting a sweater in May, since it's been a little colder than usual this spring."

I glared at him playfully, biting my lip as I studied his face. "Unfortunately, I think you're serious."

"No, I'm Harry," he said with such a straight face I burst into laughter. With my guard down, he dragged me more easily through the crowd and out onto the grounds.

"Alright, Potter, you got me outside. Where are we going?"

"Wherever the hippogriffs are. I had to improvise; for some reason, they've put enchantments around the Quidditch Pitch that's making it impossible to get in."

"Huh, that's odd."

He snorted. "Threw me for a loop this morning when I went to make sure my broom was in good flying condition, I can tell you that much."

"So can you tell me what the plan was?" I asked as innocently as possible.

"No, because I was able to salvage most of it. I just would have preferred brooms."

"You rode Buckbeak last June, didn't you?"

"Buckbeak is great and all, but the Firebolt..."

I laughed. "You know what, that's fair."

Soon enough, we reached the hippogriff enclosure. I hopped over the fence and gestured for Harry to follow me. Fireflutter strained against his ropes trying to get to me, so I approached her first.

"Wait, Lu, aren't you supposed to bow?" Harry asked, sounding rather panicked.

"You are," I replied with a teasing grin. I reached forward and stroked her feathers. Fireflutter tossed her head back. "Oh, shove off. You have all these friends with you. You know the thestrals are more solitary, if you can even see them, so I keep them company more often, when I get the chance." She growled, playfully shoving her head against my chest. "I've been busy! I want to see you try to conjure a bouquet of flowers with nothing but a wand. My brother's the best at transfiguration in the whole school according to Professor McGonagall, and it took me two weeks even with his help. That doesn't leave much time for wandering around feeding you, even though you know I wish I could."

She stood upright then, narrowing her eyes at something over my shoulder. I stepped back so I was standing next to Harry. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Be nice, you muppet, he's the reason I came to say hello tonight." I turned to Harry. "She's one of the more temperamental of the hippogriffs, if you couldn't already tell. You should probably bow just to be safe --- she doesn't like listening to me."

He nodded, not breaking eye contact with her. He bowed, and after a couple seconds, Fireflutter followed suit.

"Good, now you two are friends." I glanced at Harry. "Do I have time to say hello to the others? Do you have a strict schedule?"

Harry glanced up at the sky. The sun had set, but the stars had yet to come out. "You have time." He glanced over my shoulder and grinned. "Looks like you have someone who wants to say hello to you, first. Quite a few someones."

I turned to see a small army of porlocks gathered at the fence, all shoving through each other trying to crawl through the gaps.

"I'll be right back," I said with a laugh, hopping over the fence and immediately feeling each porlock nuzzling up against me. Harry soon appeared behind me.

"What are these?" Harry asked. Even though his voice was gentle and curious, a number scurried away.

"Kneel down, they'll come back," I replied softly. He complied, and surely enough, they returned with some reluctance, hiding behind me and leaving a wide radius around Harry. "They're porlocks. Hagrid doesn't want to use them in a lesson with us because, well, you can see how shy they are. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs got to interact with them, though, and they really are sweet. They're horse guardians, and really hesitant around humans."

"They seem to have no problem with you," he pointed out.

Am I really human, though? I forced this thought away and smiled. "They remember the hands that feed them. And the hands that know they liked being scratched behind the ears." I glanced at Harry out of the corner of my eye and jerked my chin at the porlock closest to him. "Move slowly, but give it a shot."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Positive. I trust you, so they will, too. Go for it."

He looked nervous, but he slowly extended his hand toward the small creature. It didn't back away as Harry rested his hand on the top of its head. He scratched with a couple of fingers behind its ear, and it took a step closer to Harry.

I smiled. "There you go."

We knelt there for quite a while, the porlocks milling around us, sniffing us curiously, taking turns being scratched behind the ears. I don't know how much time passed before Harry glanced up at the sky again. The stars were beginning to peek through the darkness, shining brightly in the almost-absence of the moon.

"Time for whatever the next part of your plan is?" I asked.

He nodded, rising to his feet and extending a hand, which I accepted. Harry grinned. "I'm beginning to think this version of the plan is better. Think Fireflutter will let us hitch a ride?"

"Only one way to find out," I said, hopping over the fence and untying her ropes. I approached the creature and rubbed a hand down her back. "Do you mind?"

When she made no attempt to discourage me, I launched myself onto her back. When I looked back at Harry, he had an amused expression on his face.

"What? What did I do?"

He shook his head, grinning. "I was going to offer to help you up, you being short and all."

"But I handled it myself," I finished for him, crossing my arms defiantly over my chest. "Do you need help up?"

Harry easily climbed up onto Fireflutter's back in front of me. "As if." He fished something out of his pocket, something I soon realized was a rough sketch of Hogwarts. A spot was marked on the edge of the map with a small X, but before I could figure out where it was, he folded the map in half and shoved it back into his pocket. He leaned forward and whispered something in Fireflutter's ear --- normally, my werewolf-sharp senses would have allowed me to eavesdrop, but he was incredibly quiet. He turned back to me, grinning. "Hold on tight. We have a bit of a flight."

I had just wrapped my arms around his waist when Fireflutter took off at a gallop. With three beats of her wings, we took flight.

To my surprise, Harry tensed up once we were in the air. I loosened my grip on him and leaned forward. "Scared, Potter?"

"It's no Firebolt" was his only reply. He smiled uneasily.

I tightened my grip and laid my head against his back. "She won't let us fall. I won't let us fall."

"I know," he said, relaxing ever so slightly.

After about ten minutes, Fireflutter began to descend. When she hit the ground and Harry and I slid off, I saw we were on top of a hill on the edge of the grounds.

"Well, I can officially say I've never been this far from the castle before," I said, nearly breathless with awe. "What a view."

"It's an even better view on the full moon," he replied. I nearly stopped breathing, but he didn't notice. "I've been looking for a place for a little while now, sneaking out of the castle late at night once you had gone to bed or when you were sick, but I found this one just a couple weeks ago. Under the full moon, the castle looks... amazing. We'll have to come up here sometime on a full moon, just so you can see it, but you can certainly see the stars a lot better when the moon isn't full, so it's good that the full moon wasn't on your birthday this year, eh?"

"Yeah, it is. Good, I mean." I bit my lip, thinking for half a second I should just tell him. I knew I could trust him. I knew that he wouldn't just abandon me on this hill, especially not on my birthday. I knew that I'd rather tell him than have him accidentally find out some other way. But at the same time... it was my birthday. I didn't want to ruin my birthday with that. So instead, I tilted my head back to see the stars better. "You're right. The stars are... incredible. And I thought the view from Gryffindor tower was good."

I heard the smile in his voice as he replied. "Yeah." He sat on the grass, and I followed suit. He fished around in his other pocket, clutching something in his hand. "Well, I know it's not much, but after how... how absolutely bloody insane this year has been, it might be nice to just... stop for a while. So it's not much, but..." He reached for my wrist and secured a small charm to my bracelet, after the dragon. It was a microscopic model of the Gemini constellation. "Have you ever stopped to think about how funny it is that the twins are among your best friends, yet you're the Gemini of the group?"

I laughed. "I've never really thought about it, but you're right. That is funny." I looked down at the bracelet, now with a Quaffle, a bear, a dragon, and the stars. He really has me figured out at this point, I thought to myself. "This is perfect, Harry. Thank you."

"Of course," he said with a shrug and a smile. "Tomorrow, we find out what the last task is. But for tonight... well, let's just... I don't know..."

I laid flat on my back and rested my hands on my stomach, wrist with the bracelet on top. "Enjoy the peace and quiet? Enjoy being alone?"

He laid down next to me and interlocked his fingers behind his head. "Something like that." He drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly, and I followed suit.

In that moment, it didn't matter that the darkness of the night pressed on us from all sides. It didn't matter that our only company was a dozing hippogriff and a sky full of stars. It didn't matter that the next day would begin the cycle of training for a Triwizard Tournament task all over again. It didn't matter that the spring night was plagued by a chilly breeze that whispered through the grass from time to time. It didn't even matter that I was a werewolf, that I was a Muggle-born, that I was anything other than Harry's best friend.

"You know," I whispered, "if I could freeze time... I'd like to stay here, forever."

"I was thinking the same thing," he whispered back.