HARRY:

We were still in the kitchen when Professor Lupin appeared. The look on his face immediately spiked my heart rate, already significantly higher than normal.

He looked around the room, gnawing on his lower lip for a second before speaking.

"To say Lucy's been through hell would be a severe understatement. You cannot — and I mean cannot — ask her to talk about any of it until she is ready, which might not be for quite a while. Right now, she just needs as much normalcy as you can offer her. Oh, and be gentle with her. She'll likely be in a fair amount of pain for a while, though we all know she'd be loath to admit it." He sighed. "You should all find something to do for the time being. She's cleaning up and packing a bag now, so it may be a while before she's ready to come."

"Let's go play Exploding Snap," Fred suggested. "We got her to play with us on the train."

Every other kid nodded and stood, but I remained firmly in my chair. "I'll wait for her," I said quietly.

Ron looked for half a second as if he'd try to change my mind, but he seemed to think it wise not to press me. Professor Lupin asked to speak with Mrs. Weasley privately, leaving me alone in the kitchen since Sirius was upstairs taking care of Buckbeak.

I pulled Lucy's bracelet from my pocket and studied each charm.

I had gotten the bear first, more on impulse than anything. It made sense, being her patronus and all. Then came the Quaffle, for winning the Quidditch Cup together. Then the dragon, for obvious reasons. Then the Gemini constellation, for even more obvious reasons.

I couldn't imagine a world without her.

Everyone was worried, of course. Ginny was jumpy, looking hopefully at every person who walked into the room for half a second before shaking her head. The twins were trying to keep our spirits up with their typical jokes and small pranks, but I could see from the way their efforts were less enthusiastic than usual and the way their smiles faded more quickly than usual that they were worried, too. Hermione seemed constantly on the verge of a breakdown, sometimes trying to lose herself in books but usually staring off into space with tears glistening in her eyes as she twisted the ring — half purple and half blank silver — around her finger. Where his brothers tried to make us laugh, Ron sat with us in silence, keeping his own anxiety carefully masked so as not to add to ours.

And as for me... I was doing my best. I was glad to be with friends again, and with Sirius, but the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach only intensified after every day without news. The bad feeling kept me up late at night and woke me up early in the morning. It was hard to eat, and it was harder still to breathe.

Part of the bad feeling had gone away when Mrs. Weasley disapparated suddenly and came back a couple minutes later saying Lucy was safe. But I doubted it would disappear entirely until she was in my arms again, and even then...

I'd sworn to myself the day after Cedric died that I'd never let anything hurt her like that again.

That thought punched a hole through my chest.

I needed her in my arms again. It was the only way I felt I could protect her, insignificant though it was.

I was jerked from my thoughts by an uproar in the other room. I glanced at the clock, shook my head because it had only been ten minutes, and rose to my feet to go see what had happened.

LUCY:

An explosion of laughter masked the loud crack of apparation, so everyone was too shocked to react for half a second when Professor Lupin and I arrived in the center of the room.

Ginny was the first to move, running toward me and wrapping her arms around me. I could tell she was trying to be careful, trying not to squeeze too hard, but she was shaking with the effort of holding back.

The twins were next, rushing forward in unison. They were holding a bit tighter than Ginny, but it didn't hurt.

Hermione shoved them apart and held me for herself, as delicately as if I were made of glass. In her eyes, I supposed I was. She sniffled, and I could see as she pulled away that she had well-defined tear tracks on her cheeks.

Ron was next, burying his face in my neck and whispering how great it was to have me back.

As I pulled away from Ron, I glanced around for Harry.

HARRY:

As I walked from one end of the house to the other, I realized the group had gone silent. I walked faster, figuring they must have been concentrating really hard, meaning it was a really good round. I smiled as I entered the room.

"You know what, I changed my mind, deal me in. I can play for a round or t-"

I suddenly understood why everyone had gone silent.

Lucy was standing in the middle of the room.

And just like that, nothing else in the world mattered.

I crossed the room in two strides and wrapped my arms around her. She was taller than she had been in June. Her hair was still wet from her shower, but I didn't care. I rested my cheek against the top of her head and closed my eyes and held her just a bit tighter, still trying to be gentle.

She was pale and trembling, so even when I released her from the hug, I hovered by her side.

"I'll go tell Molly she's here," Professor Lupin said in a low voice to the twins, who stood protectively on either side of the door, as if they half-expected someone to charge through and try to hurt her again.

"I'm here," she said breathlessly, hurrying into the room and sweeping Lucy up into a hug. She pulled away after a second and brushed Lucy's hair back, leaving one hand lingering on her forehead. Then she straightened up and began passing out instructions.

She turned to Hermione and Ginny first. "Oh, good, you've already got her bag. Run that upstairs, will you? There are extra blankets in the wardrobe in the corner, pile as many on her bed as you can."

She turned to Ron next, as the girls hurried out of the room. "Sirius is upstairs with Buckbeak. Tell him to come down to this room right away, Professor Lupin wants to talk to us."

I studied Lucy's face for the slightest flicker of excitement or happiness or something at the mention of Buckbeak, but no such thing happened. Her eyes were blank, completely devoid of their usual light. It startled me, even more than it concerned me. And it concerned me plenty.

Mrs. Weasley turned to the twins next. "Both of you fetch your sweaters from last Christmas and bring them down for her."

When they disappeared with two loud cracks, she turned to me. She smiled when she saw the way my hand had already found Lucy's — I hadn't even realized we were holding hands, let alone how tightly she was clinging to me. "And you two can head to the kitchen. I'll be there in just a moment."

Lucy's gait was slightly uneven as she walked. I figured part of it was just her getting used to her longer legs; the other part, I could only imagine. I forced the thought away and focused on the fact that she was safe now, and right next to me.

My arm shot out to catch her when she tripped, and she released a small whimper.

"Can we stop here for a second?" she asked in a voice little more than a croaky whisper.

It was the first time I'd heard her speak in over a month, and she sounded nothing like herself.

I didn't ask if she was alright. I knew she wasn't.

A sting pricked the backs of my eyes, but I forced the tears away. Lucy needed me now more than ever.

LUCY:

I sank back against the wall and closed my eyes. I pulled my legs to my chest and rested my head against my knees.

Everything hurt.

Harry knelt next to me, hand on my arm, rubbing his thumb back and forth slowly.

After a couple of moments, I lifted my head and met his eyes. Those emerald eyes.

"Why didn't you write me, Harry?" I asked before I lost my nerve and stopped myself. "I wrote you, every day, usually a couple times a day."

"I did write you," he said, his voice quiet and strained. "Every day."

"You did?"

"Of course I did."

I blinked, emotions surging in me for half a second before ebbing away.

When I didn't say anything for a couple more seconds, Harry squeezed my arm gently. "It's okay, Lu. Now we know neither of us ignored the other, right?"

"You didn't forget me?"

"How could I?" He shook his head. "Look, I don't know what happened to you, but if you think I'm ever going to let something like that happen to you ever again-" He shook his head a second time, glancing away.

"So we're okay?" I asked after a long moment.

His eyes landed on mine again, and he nodded firmly. "We're okay. Something just went wrong with the diaries is all." He cocked his head. "Hey, want to trade tomorrow? You can read what I wrote you, and I can read what you wrote me? That's still on the pages, right?"

"I like that idea," I replied, my voice cracking with the effort of it all. I released a small sigh and held out a hand. "D-Do you mind?"

He jumped up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me to my feet. "Lucy, a couple hours ago, I thought you might have been dead. I don't mind at all."

HARRY:

She didn't speak again as we walked down the hallway, and she didn't trip again, either. I was left alone with my thoughts for just long enough to feel a sharp pang in my chest.

She thought I had forgotten her?

The twins were already in the kitchen by the time we got there, and they helped me wrestle the sweaters over her head. When I felt her forehead to see for myself, I understood what Mrs. Weasley meant. She was freezing.

I took a seat next to her at the table, the twins sitting across from us. She rested her head on her arm, tracing patterns on the wooden table with her finger. I inched my chair closer to her and rubbed her back from shoulder blade to shoulder blade.

I couldn't shake the feeling that if I stopped touching her, she'd disappear.

Ron made his way into the room after a couple minutes, followed by the girls. Mrs. Weasley bustled in a little while later and started making soup, for everyone instead of just Lucy since none of us had eaten much at dinner.

The twins talked about the Exploding Snap game that had been abandoned to fill the silence, to try to get a reaction out of Lucy, to attempt to create the normalcy Professor Lupin thought might help. Lucy almost smiled a couple of times, but I could tell her mind was still far away. So, I kept rubbing her back slowly, to keep her there.

LUCY:

I didn't realize how hungry I was until the food was in front of me. I couldn't remember eating anything since before I was taken.

"Slower, Lu," Harry said quietly, in a voice only I would hear, resting his hand on top of mine. "You'll make yourself sick. Just... trust me."

I bit my lip and nodded. "Right."

HARRY:

She heeded my advice. She didn't need to ask how I knew.

I hated that she now knew that feeling, too.

Eventually, Mrs. Weasley recommended we all go to bed.

It had been a long day.

We all headed up the stairs together, everyone stealing furtive glances at Lucy. Whether or not she noticed, I had no idea, but to be quite honest, the feeling of her hand in mine was all that mattered.

Her grip tightened when we reached the girls' door.

LUCY:

Harry was my lifeline.

I didn't want to let him go.

His eyes were soft when he turned to me, raising his eyebrows in silent question.

Could I ask him to stay with me?

HARRY:

"Lucy?" Hermione asked, her eyes flickering between Lucy and me.

"What's going on?" Ginny mouthed.

I looked back at Lucy, who hadn't loosened her hold on me.

"You alright?" I inquired gently.

She suddenly dropped her hand and her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," I said, pulling her to me in another hug. I didn't want to leave her either. "I'll see you in the morning."

Lucy nodded and, to my surprise, wiped a tear from her cheek.

I hadn't realized until that moment that she had the faintest new scar, perpendicular to the others, stretching from just below her eye to the bottom of her cheekbone.

I wondered if that was the only scar, visible or otherwise, from the whole ordeal.

I realized that would be too good to be true.

"See you in the morning," she said. She took a reluctant step backward, still not turning away from me.

"Oh, wait!" I said. I extracted her bracelet from my pocket and undid the clasp. "I do believe this is yours?"

For the first time, a tiny flicker of light brought a tiny bit of life back to Lucy's eyes.

"You found it," she breathed.

"Well, George did, actually," I said with a shrug. "But he gave it to me to give to you."

I gently took her by the wrist — trying not to dwell on how badly it was shaking — and froze. Faint red scratches seemed to suggest that ropes had once been there. I steeled my nerves and redid the clasp, but my hands shook, too.

LUCY:

For a moment, time stood still.

For a moment, everything was a little closer to okay.

For a moment, the pain didn't matter.

For a moment, I had hope again.

HARRY:

The moment passed too quickly.

I still had the feeling that if I stopped touching her, she'd disappear.

The fact that the bracelet was back on Lucy's wrist didn't change the fact she had dark circles under her eyes contrasting the ghostly pale hue of her skin. It didn't change the fact that when she spoke again, her voice was still weak and tired and barely even audible.

"Promise you'll still be here in the morning?" she asked.

I nodded. "Where else would I be?"

Lucy hugged me one more time, burying her head against my chest, then turned to follow Hermione and Ginny into their room.

Once the door closed, I turned to follow Ron to the room we shared.

"Harry, what happened to her?" he asked in a low voice.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck. "She didn't tell me anything while we were alone, just that she wrote me every day and never heard from me, the same way I wrote her every day and never heard from her."

He shook his head. "Bloody hell."

"Yeah, bloody hell," I echoed.

Neither of us spoke as we started changing into pajamas.

"At least she's back," Ron said as we climbed into our beds.

"Back would mean she was smiling." Anger surged through me. "Back would mean she wasn't tripping over her own two feet, back would mean she was acting like herself, she's not back, Ron."

"She's safe, mate." I heard his mattress creak as he lifted himself onto an elbow. "Maybe that's all we can hope, for now."