"I'm glad you could make it," I murmur, not wanting to let go. But I do, and the warmth disappears.

"Me too," she says, stoic, although her ears look redder than usual.

Susan, now that I can properly look at her, is wearing a dark green dress, matching with her eyes, and dangling earrings that frame her face. Her red hair is put up into an updo with jasmines, and pearly makeup shimmers on her face, making her glow more than usual. Her jasmine scent wafts around the room.

"You look, uh, really beautiful, by the way," I find myself saying.

She smiles, all grace. "And you are absolutely lovely, Potter."

I find myself flushing as my stomach flutters again. Wow. I really cannot take a compliment. I stammer out, hopelessly, "We should ━━━"

She shakes her head, the soft smile not leaving her gorgeous face. A red lock bounces out of her updo. "Go. Talk to your brother."

I blink at her. "How on Earth ━━━"

She shrugs. "I just do."

"You need to tell me one day," I say with a tiny laugh, and she nudges me good-naturedly, her stray lock now bouncing on her cheek.

My eyes can't stop looking at that stupid piece of hair, even as Susan says, "One day."

Without me really thinking, like always, my hands reach up and I tiptoe gently. She stares at me, unmoving, her intense, green-eyed stare sending my heart into overdrive. I tuck her hair behind her air, my skin tingling as my hand brushes her.

"What was that for?" she asks, tilting her head as I set my hand down, suddenly embarrassed.

"Your hair was bugging me," I force out.

"Was it?" she asks, amused.

"Yes," I say, huffing. "What else could it be?"

She taps me on the forehead, and I glare at her. "I don't know," she teases, her eyes mirthful. I almost gape at her. "You tell me."

Rolling my eyes, I flick her on the shoulder, and she muffles a giggle. I can't help but smile back, wishing that Susan was always like this. I want to see her smile forever.

"Now go," she says, her eyes crinkling.

"Come with me," I say suddenly.

She raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

I nod. "I am."

She shrugs, taking my hand. "If you insist."

As we walk back down the aisle, I spot Harry talking to a platinum blonde, dressed in bright yellow as they walk up the aisle. Oh. She's the one who delivered Slughorn's letter to me last year.

Harry's eyes meet mine. As he turns to swerve away, the blonde exclaims, "You must be Harry's sister, Chrysanthemum," in an airy voice.

"I am," I say hesitantly, my smile strained. "Please call me Anne."

"I'm Luna, Anne," she says, smiling. I notice her discreetly nudging Harry as she stares at Susan and I's intertwined hands. Ah. So she knows that Harry is disguised, too.

"Susan," my friend offers, shaking Luna's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Yes, nice to meet you," I echo softly.

Luna drifts off after her father. Susan starts to follow Luna, and I reluctantly let go of Susan's hand, missing the warmth.

She knows me too well, I think as she mouths, You can do it!

I smile at her, before turning to Harry. Unable to stare at him, or the person he's disguised as, I settle for staring at the bottom of my dress. What a pretty color it is.

"We need to talk," I mutter.

"Not now," he says, almost angrily.

Before I can snap at him, Ronald Weasley appears with an elderly witch clutching his arm. Her beaky nose, red-rimmed eyes, and feathery pink hat give her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.

"... and your hair's much too long, Ronald, for a moment I thought you were Ginevra."

I suppress the urge to burst out laughing, clutching my dress. Ronald and Harry both look like a mixture of stuck and amused.

"Merlin's beard, what is Xenophilius Lovegood wearing?" she continues. "He looks like an omelet. And who are you?" she barked at Harry.

While Ronald and Harry are responding, introducing this woman to "cousin Barny", I can only think of this old woman's comments about how Mr. Lovegood looks like an omelet. From the corner of my eye, Susan is shaking with repressed laughter as she talks to Luna Lovegood and a man who's probably her father, her eyes on us.

"And you?" she asks with a screechy voice, pointing to me.

"That's Harry Potter's sister, Aunt Muriel," Ronald eventually says.

As my mind screams, shit, maybe I should've disguised myself too, Muriel gives me an almost greedy look as she shakes my hands.

"The Girl-Who-Barely-Survived?"

I flush. "No one's mentioned that in a year."

"You're much too pale and skinny," she adds distastefully, eyeing me up and down. "Almost like muggle parchment ━━━"

Paper, I want to correct, but I'd rather not activate her wrath.

"Or perhaps a ghost." She gives me another judgmental stare. "Are you sure that you're Harry Potter's sister?"

"I am, Ma'am," I say politely, nodding my head. From the corner of my eye, Susan is watching us like a hawk as Harry looks surprisingly angry. "Nice to meet you. My name is Anne Potter."

She gives me a look and scoffs. "I'm Muriel. Those bruises match the color of your dress."

The old lady eventually leaves, and Ronald gives us a meaningful look as he disappears, my jaw still hanging in shock. Did she really just say that?

I touch my neck, my cheeks heating.

"Hey," Harry starts, "she shouldn't have said that ━━━"

"Obviously not," I mutter. I don't bother to look up, afraid of Harry's, or well, "Barny's" expression. "Let's talk now."

Harry says nothing, so I continue.

"I don't need your forgiveness. I do want to apologize. He was blackmailing me, and then ..." Willing myself to not cry, I continue. "... he manipulated me, Dumbledore said," I murmur in a low voice.

I grimace as he asks, "You talked to him?"

"I told him everything. He knew."

Harry nods, looking like he expected it. "Yeah. He also gave us ━━━ Ron, Hermione, and I ━━━ a mission that requires us to leave."

I look at him, and he stares back, eyes filled with emotion.

"You're not going to Hogwarts this year, are you?"

He shakes his head.

"And I can't know what it is, can I?"

"No," he says. "You can't."

"Of course," I mutter. "It's always been like ━━━"

"You remember the mirrors Sirius and Remus gave us?" he asks suddenly, and I nod.

"You told me not to open it because Sirius was being reckless, so I didn't."

"Use it," he says. "We can communicate that way."

"Alright," I answer hesitantly. Those mirrors could've been our saving grace with Sirius; although I didn't know him very well, had I defied Harry, I could've saved him.

But this time, my gut tells me to trust my twin.

So I do.

We stare at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before I clear my throat.

"Susan and I don't have any seats," I mutter. "I understand that you don't want me here, but it seems rude to do that to Susan."

"We actually arranged the seats so you two could sit next to us." He pauses. "I was going to tell you, but I didn't know how."

I frown. "But I thought ━━━"

He sighs. "I was never mad at you, Chrys."

My throat throbs, and I choke out, "It's Anne. Please."

Bemused, Harry glances at me. It feels odd to see a complete stranger's face, who is still my brother on the inside, stare at me. "I was mad at myself for not realizing, Anne," he explains. "Remus told me, after I was sent away from my relatives, about how you've been doing the whole year."

I remind myself to ask Remus about that. "So ... you're not mad. And Ginny was right when she said you missed me?"

"She told you that?"

Wrote it, I am tempted to say, but instead, my mouth stutters out a "Never mind."

Before Harry can question me further, Susan walks up to us, tilting her head. I nod at her, and she smiles, all while Harry watches, looking oddly perplexed.

"So, where are our seats?" Susan eventually asks me.

"With Harry and his friends," I say. I give Harry a meaningful glance.

"Ah." Susan turns to him as well, and gives him a polite smile. "If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know."

"Oh, no, we're good," Harry starts, but I shake my head.

"We would love to help, Harry."

"If you insist," he says hesitantly.

The three of us head back to the queue. A smile graces my face, soft and glowing, and I can't help but feel giddy as the ice wall between Harry and I finally shatters.