Beaten and Blown By the Wind

Chapter Thirteen: Diagon Alley and More of Hermione's Perpetual Unrest

"You know what, Harry? I think we're lucky to have someone like Lynn around at times like these," Ron said brightly as the brick wall in the alleyway behind the Leaky Cauldron opened to welcome him, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny to a very sunny and crowded Diagon Alley.

"So she can fight the Ministry for us?" Harry questioned, as relieved and amused as Ron to be shooed away from Fudge's anger.

"You mean so she can get us in trouble with the Ministry to provide a fight for her to fight for us?" Hermione tried to correct, but the two boys and Ginny just laughed.

"One of us would have ended up doing something like that eventually. Maybe she'll argue well enough that the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery wouldn't apply to us, like it didn't apply to her," Ron dismissed Hermione's disapproval, making it greater with his hope.

"But it did apply to her; she said she got loads of owls as a kid. And Remus and Dumbledore wouldn't let her take it that far anyway," Ginny said, countering Ron's false hope.

"It did, but not how you'd think," Harry said as they edged in and out of the crowds aimlessly. "Apparently the old Minister of Magic was not only good friends with Dumbledore, but very much like him. It amused him that her father not only taught and encouraged magic away from school amongst his kids, but forced them to it. With seven kids, he didn't feel he should ever have to do anything he didn't want to and so taught the kids the magical ways to cook and clean and other things like that for the general upkeep of his homes. Released all his house elves and everything, Lynn told me, just because they creeped him out," he stopped to laugh. "Imagine that, he kicks Voldemort out of his parlor, but releases his house elves because they give him the willies!" Ron and Ginny laughed despite Hermione's disapproval, which gained leaps and bounds in S.P.E.W.-ish righteousness. "That's why Lynn knows so much about potions. Her father was a potions master, among other things, and she was the only one dedicated enough to pleasing him to spend hours brewing and rebrewing ruined potions until she got it exactly right," Harry shook his head. "The more she tells me about him, the gladder I am that I never got the chance to meet him."

"But what does that have to do with the Decree?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, sorry. Forgot to get to the point," Harry said, laughing again, and Hermione lightened a bit with his good mood. "Apparently it was such a bother to go argue with her father every time one of them started doing magic over the holidays that sometime around her second or third year in Hogwarts, they decided that while in one of his homes under his care, his children could do whatever magic they wanted, but made clear that the Ministry was not responsible for any resulting problems. Of course, the kids were scared enough of his wrath to not try anything he wouldn't approve of or that would cause problems that it wasn't really an issue."

"So she was allowed to use magic at home?" Ron asked, looking very interested.

"Pretty much. But it had to be within her father's discretion and she got in loads of trouble if she used magic anywhere but home," Harry warned, trying to make it very clear so Ron knew the absolute best he could hope for. "Of course, you have to keep in mind that Fudge apparently hates her for it, and he is pretty stuck on the underage magic issue, so I wouldn't hold my breath. Besides, like Ginny said, Remus and Dumbledore respect the laws even if Lynn doesn't. It may amuse Dumbledore, but I doubt he'd allow it, and I know Remus wouldn't."

"As well he shouldn't!" Hermione huffed, but then got a troubled look on her face as if she were looking at a test question she couldn't quite figure out.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Ron asked, a bit miffed that she wasn't as hopeful for free range magic a couple years early as he was.

"Thank you for being so rude, but if you really must know, the whole Remus being related to me issue. I thought muggleborns didn't have close magical ties," she mused aloud.

"Well, if he's your third cousin, that's not exactly close, is it?" Ginny reasoned.

"I suppose, but I don't think it's that big of a gap. I wonder if my parents knew about their magical ties. They weren't that surprised for me to get my Hogwarts letter, you know," Hermione considered.

"Maybe one of your parents or grandparents is a squib," Harry tried, leading everyone to look at him oddly. "Well, the lady who used to baby-sit me, Mrs. Figg, is a squib and no one ever would have guessed her to have any kind of magical tie in her family, if the Dursley's had, she never would have been permitted to baby-sit me."

"Still, wouldn't her parents have said something about it?" Ron asked. "You're really starting to stretch the possibilities, I think."

"No, it could be possible. We don't know my father's family, you know. His parents didn't even come to their wedding. My mum said he just had a huge fight with them and they disowned him or something, but even as a child, I thought there was something more to it. What if he's a squib? Then maybe his family disowned him for that or he was like Filch and wanted to hide it. If he wanted to hide that he was a squib, what better choice than to live as a muggle and cut off all wizarding ties? And if they disowned him, would he have any other choice?" she thought aloud, chewing her lip in concentration.

"I still think you're taking it too far. Remus is your, what, third cousin?" Ron asked and she nodded. "Alright, here's my version of events. Remus' mum is a muggle, his dad's a wizard. That would make her brother a muggle, and if he married another muggle, Remus' cousins would most likely be muggles. Now let's say Remus was the youngest and his cousins were reasonably older than him, but didn't know him because his grandparents were like the Dursleys and disowned his mum when she married a wizard. Then his cousins marry more muggles and have more muggle children, his second cousins, and one of them is your dad. Then your dad marries your mum, a muggle, and has you. You're the miracle, random magical child in the family you thought you were and Remus' third cousin. But say your grandparents are as Dursley-ish as his and disown your father because you were magical."

"I like Harry's idea better," Ginny said after everyone stopped walking a moment to look at Ron with deflated looks. "It was a lot more interesting."

"You would like the squib story better!" Ron retorted. "It's less reasonable! That's a girl thing!" he exclaimed, looking to Harry for support, who had liked the squib story as much as Ginny and Hermione had. "Oh come on! Why am I the one making sense and being logical here?"

"Aw, is ickle Ronnikins turning over a new leaf?" Fred said, walking up behind the group. "What do you reckon, George?"

"I say it's a fluke. No younger brother of ours is going to make logical sense!" George exclaimed, looking scandalized. "I blame it on her!" he continued, pointing to Hermione.

"I see your logic. She's the smart one," Fred said, before putting his hands to his mouth, looking aghast. "Great Merlin, George, did you hear what I said?"

"You said you could see my logic!" George gasped back.

"You're using logic and I'm recognizing it!"

"Holy aardvarks! She's contagious!" George said, the twins both looking at Hermione in mirrored horror.

"For crying out loud, you must be kidding," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. The two then abandoned the horror and took up smiles.

"She caught us, Fred."

"I'm afraid she has, George."

"Well, until next time, stop being logical!" George commanded to Ron as the two started to leave.

"We wouldn't want our ickle Ronnikins sounding like his ickle girliefriend, would we?" Fred teased, begging Harry and Ginny to agree with him, though they both just laughed. Hermione looked unamused and Ron was bright red. The twins took that as a sign that their work was done and turned to leave before Harry remembered something.

"Wait a minute!" he called and the two turned around, curious and interested, expecting a lead in to more Ron teasing. "Aren't you two supposed to be in your joke shop?" Harry asked, much to their amused pleasure.

"We were just on our way there before we saw our ickle Ronnikins and his girliefriend and decided to say hello," Fred said nastily, hoping Ron would retort something that would be easy to tease him for.

"Out late last night, we're running a bit late this morning and decided that we just couldn't open the store without a late breakfast, as it were," George explained.

"Would you mind some customers?" Harry asked. "I have a friend who requested I bring something back from your shop."

"Where is Lynn? I was wondering, mind you, but figured you were chasing after these two lovebirds," Fred asked.

"Yes, they would have been running off on their own again, wouldn't they?" George asked his twin, who nodded assent. Ginny giggled, causing the two to grin broadly, but their grins made way to toothy smiles when they saw Ron's red face edging towards purple.

"She's trying to keep Fudge from suspending Ron and expelling Harry, Ginny, and I," Hermione answered, her sour look of disapproval returning to her face.

"When did I get expelled?" Ginny asked, looking to Hermione at the same time Ron asked when he got suspended.

"Well, we all cast one more spell getting off the bus, did we not? That puts Ginny and I past suspension and bumps Ron into that. Harry, well, Harry was expelled to begin with, wasn't he," she explained as the two youngest Weasleys looked suddenly depressed. The twins, however, were lit with surprised pride and joy.

"How'd you go about getting yourself expelled, Ginny?" George asked gleefully.

"Mind you, Ron's only suspended," Fred jumped in.

"Hm, yes. Impressive, but hardly as note worthy as Ginny's expulsion."

"Indeed," Fred agreed, and the two, who had been looking at Ginny like she was some caged animal in the zoo, turned their wide eyes to Ron for a moment before turning back to Ginny.

"So how'd you do it?" George asked again.

"I broke the Underage Sorcery thing...three times," Ginny said, looking a little less depressed due to her older brother's pride. As she said that, the two of them beamed.

"Open defiance of the ministry!" Fred gushed.

"Three times! Twice after a warning! Once after suspension!" George exclaimed, glowing with pride and envy.

"I always told you she'd do our memory pride!" Fred continued as Ron got angry again.

"What about me? I defied the same Decree twice!" he argued and the twins gushing stopped for a moment and they looked at him with pity.

"But you're only suspended," Fred told him.

"Even Fred and I were threatened with almost definite suspension," George continued.

"Poor ickle Ronnikins can't even live up to his little sister," Fred shook his head sadly.

"Or his girlfriend," George said, shaking his head in union with his twin.

"And he makes logical sense," Fred added and all George could do was shake his head in sadness and disapproval. But with that, the two lead the way to the joke shop followed by Harry and Ginny trying to conceal laughter, a smoldering Hermione, and a very infuriated Ron.

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"So we've reached an agreement then?" Dumbledore asked, looking from Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge to his one of his favorite former students, Aislynn McGarret, with a note of seriousness and finality in his voice. When the two nodded, looking at each other scathingly, he smiled and clapped his hands together. "Good then, it's settled. The children will be allowed to use simple magic for every day living in only the McGarret homes, seeing as no one dares go near them even now, but you will not make any question about how important it is that they do not abuse this freedom and never use magic anywhere they are not allowed. We have your full and complete assurance at that, right Aislynn?"

"Yes, yes, full and complete. No more spectacles, keep magic to a minimum otherwise, I've got it," she said peevishly, hiding the fact that she was celebrating on the inside. It would be a bad idea to let the minister know she got more than she had hoped for from this meeting, he may just try to take some of it away.

"Well, if everything here is finished, I have more important matters awaiting me at the Ministry," Fudge said as he stood up, gathering his lime green bowler and emptying his drink. He turned to shake Dumbledore's hand rather curtly before leaving. "Good afternoon then," he said with a final angry look towards Aislynn as he stomped out, the three offensive men from the bus at his heels.

"I hope you're proud of yourself," Remus started lecturing Lynn as she just stared at the door Fudge had just closed behind him. A half smile crept across her lips before she shook her head and cleared her throat a bit and look up him innocently.

"Proud of what? You make it sound like I'm some sort of criminal," she replied, faking a look of hurt to Dumbledore's amusement.

"Ah, let's stay calm about this, Remus," Dumbledore broke in with a chuckle in his voice. "No one's broken any laws; we've just bent and amended a few. Sometimes the times call for changes in the law. If you don't recall, until about two hundred years ago, it was in the law to execute every found werewolf. Not a very humane thing, some may say, but it was none the less the law. Perhaps it is best to bend, change, or revoke laws that were created for and seem for the betterment of public safety as the times change and the public seeks safety from different things."

"Somehow I don't see the underage sorcery laws the same as murder," Remus grumbled before forcing himself to see logic and calm down. "But perhaps you're right. I suppose Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny deserve a little law bending for saving the world every now and again. And if we make it clear that they're not to abuse this privilege..."

"They won't abuse it. Sadly enough they're more sensible than me and aren't keen on making a show as I always have," Lynn interrupted, causing him to smile for a moment in fond memory.

"Ah yes, Hogwarts certainly was different with students so willing to put on a good show of rule breaking only to put on a better show in avoiding the inevitable consequences," Dumbledore said, shaking his head with a smile. "Even the Weasley twins had trouble avoiding detention as well as you two, James, and Sirius. Tell me, was it you, Aislynn, or Lily who charmed those suits of armor? Even Professor Flitwick couldn't determine which of you could have pulled off such a feat," the old man asked to the surprise of Lynn and Remus.

"What makes you think I had anything to do with it, sir? I was in bed that night with the most horrible headache - I thought that was settled when my roommates told you I was in bed early the night before those suits of armor started harassing the Slytherins! Besides, it was James who had the invisibility cloak and Remus and Lily on prefect duty. Out of our whole group, Lily and I were the last people who could have possibly charmed the armor - you know she'd never do anything to make herself a bad example, especially while on duty," Lynn argued, trying her best not to laugh.

"And I suppose that it was out of the kindness of Sirius' heart that Severus was amazingly the only Slytherin who was not pestered once by a single suit of armor, then?" Dumbledore asked, an eyebrow rose, as Lynn's fake innocent look faltered and her face turned red as she bit her lip, trying to find the right response.

"Stranger things have happened?" she tried, as the other two men looked at her as if she had three noses and they all broke down laughing. "If you knew it was me, why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't I have years of detention for it? You made me a prefect my seventh year!"

"Despite whatever rules were broken, even the professors at Hogwarts need a good laugh sometimes. No, it was not fun hexing suits of armor off Slytherin students all day, but in retrospect, every single professor, even Minerva, can't help but laugh. It was too amusing a memory to punish students for and was made only more amusing by the fact that no one else was able to pin any of you to it."

Just as the trio sat for a moment in a fond memory, the back door to the Leaky Cauldron burst open and the noise in the main room raised a bit as four loud, smiling teenagers burst into the small room in the back the meeting with Fudge had been held. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny's cheeks were red from laughter as they tromped into the room, looking as if they had just spent the best morning of their vacation exploring Diagon Alley, each towing a bag with the color changing logo of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shining from it. Lynn forgot all about the armor, Dumbledore, and Remus as she looked towards the bags excitedly.

"What have you brought to show me?" she asked, as the teenagers exchanged a mischievous look.

"We're not supposed to show you," Harry said, smiling.

"What? What do you mean you're not supposed to show me? Why not?"

"Special orders from Fred and George. They don't want any adults knowing about their products, you see, especially not Hogwarts professors, sorry Headmaster, and adults who are likely to confiscate their inventions," Ron explained, trying very hard not to look at Remus.

"I don't see how that pertains to Lynn," Ginny argued.

"That's not all Fred and George said, though," Hermione reminded her.

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

"What? What did they say?" Lynn asked, a bit upset that she wasn't seeing the creations.

"They said that if you wanted to see their products, you'd have to pay a visit to their joke shop and all of us would have to endorse their shop to every Hogwarts student we came across," Ron answered, still trying not to look at Remus, but now Dumbledore as well, but both men were smiling at the idea of Fred and George's mischief living on at Hogwarts after they had left.

"Well, I suppose you cannot go against direct orders, can you?" Lynn finally answered with a smile. "Come now, Molly will be here soon. You had better go hide those bags in your rooms, she would definitely confiscate them."

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The rest of the week passed by quickly. The students came across many of their friends from school and spent the rest of the days after the first (whose afternoon was filled with the shopping necessary for school) following them around through their school shopping to catch up, promoting and (to some extent) demonstrating some of Fred and George's better products, adding finishing touches to their summer homework assignments at a table at Fortescue's ice cream parlor (taking advantage of the free advice and sundaes), and just enjoying their last moments of one of the best summers they could remember. Lynn and Remus did much the same, just spending their time catching old friends neither of which had bothered to keep in touch with for varying reasons, making sure the kids weren't getting into too much trouble on their own (or making sure their spending money didn't run out too quickly, in Lynn's case), and trying to pretend that the newly found good times didn't have to end. The night before they would have to make their way to the Hogwarts Express found all the Weasleys aside from Charlie (who was in Romania) and Percy (who everyone was still avoiding to mention) enjoying a huge, wonderful end of the summer dinner with Harry, Hermione, Lynn, Remus, and their newest comrade: Neville Longbottom.

Neville had the good fortune to run into Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Lynn, and Remus a few days ago outside Flourish and Blotts while getting his school supplies with his grandmother, who had been surprisingly warm towards Lynn and Remus. They had regrouped, grandmother and all, for dinner that night, and upon hearing why they were all in Diagon Alley, grandmother Longbottom invited Neville to stay with them and gave him permission as well when he asked if she was serious. In secret she had told Lynn and Remus that she couldn't have been prouder of Neville after the incident in the Department of Mysteries at the end of the previous school year, but felt that if Voldemort was really gaining power so quickly, Neville should have all the fun he could before there wasn't any fun to be had. She also mentioned that his O.W.L. scores were better than she had hoped for and she was more confidant in his ability to take care of himself, that spending a few days with friends was not only a reward for all of that, but a privilege he had now earned. Neville and his grandmother left London that night and he had returned the next morning, packed for school and more excited than he had been when he received his Hogwarts letter after thinking himself a squib for so many years, his small confidence that had grown thanks to D.A. the previous year gaining another leap in the process because his grandmother showed pride and confidence in him for the third time that summer. (The first being after the Department of Mysteries fiasco and second being his O.W.L. scores.)

After the dinner, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fred, and George Weasley made their way back to their respective homes, but not before Molly made a huge scene saying goodbye to her children heading off to Hogwarts because she would be "busy" the next morning with what the kids chalked off to business for the Order and wouldn't get to see them off at the train station. She made a huge fuss over Harry, Hermione, and even Neville as well, telling them all to be careful and to stop chasing trouble when it came calling. She was getting so emotional after saying goodbye to five kids that she even made a show of saying goodbye to Fred and George, who looked both disgusted and flattered with her public display of her love for them instead of yelling at them for something. She hugged Lynn goodbye and exchanged a look with her that said more than Harry could figure out, but he was able to note the 'be careful' look that he had gotten earlier overall, so he let it go.

Once the majority of the Weasleys had left, everyone else started to make their way up to bed, led by Hermione's speech about the importance of a good night's sleep before their journey to school and early wake. Well, Neville nodded and listened earnestly for the first few minutes of her tirade as Ginny, Harry, and Ron exchanged looks behind hidden laughter. Hermione's speech drove Ginny and Harry away laughing under their breath all the way to their rooms and after several minutes of feigned interest past the first couple he actually listened, Neville escaped too as she stopped to breathe for a moment, leaving Ron to point out that she drove all their friends away and try to talk her into actually getting that sleep instead of talking about it before leaving himself, shaking his head incredulously. Hermione, completely baffled at her peer's reaction to her speech, turned to Lynn and Remus who were watching the whole scene with amusement, having nothing better to do.

"Am I really that boring?"

"I wouldn't say boring..." Remus started, as Lynn interrupted.

"Sometimes," she said with a shrug. "You just have a tendency to overanalyze things and sometimes you share that a little too much or analyze them aloud. No big deal, they just leave or tell you to shut up when they're bored. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but you might want to get to bed. You've certainly made it very clear how important that sleep thing is," she answered with a smile as Hermione lowered her head sheepishly.

"I'm not really that tired," she admitted. "And I'm too excited to sleep."

"Then stay up all you want, that's fine by me. You can sleep on the train if need be," Lynn told her with another shrug, but then smiled. "Or perhaps we should ask your guardian, eh? What do you say, Remus? Should she go to sleep or stay up?"

"I say the choice is hers," he agreed, stifling a yawn. "But I'm tired and you've certainly sold that sleep thing to me, so I'm going to call it a day," he said, standing, smiling at Hermione as if to convince her she's not boring. "I bid you a good night then, ladies," he said trough another yawn before turning and leaving the room.

"Night, Remus," Lynn called towards his retreating back. "Wake me up when you get up so I don't make everyone late! Please?" she continued, and Hermione could practically see Remus rolling his eyes at her as his head nodded and he raised a hand over his shoulder brushing her off as he started up the stairs and disappeared from sight.

"Not a morning person?" Hermione asked confused. "You were up pretty early all summer."

"It's more that I'm not a night person, a sleep person, if you will. I love sleep, though, so maybe that's wrong. It's more that I'm not a dream person, if you will. I'm sure you've figured out that they're not always so happy for me..."

"I understand," Hermione responded by reflex before reconsidering. "Well, I guess I don't exactly understand how it is, but I understand what you're saying," she rephrased her answer apologetically.

"Don't worry about it; I didn't expect you to understand how it is yet."

"What do you mean yet?" Hermione asked, immediately picking up on the word Lynn accidentally let slip as the woman cringed in an 'I should not have said that' look before answering.

"I mean that with the things you've seen, the things you will see, being by Harry's side and all, you'll have some bad memories to relive once you're my age. Hopefully you'll be spared a lot that I've gone through, but there's a lot of battle you've yet to fight. Your dreams may be important in the end. It's a shame you had Trelawney as a divination professor. You could've used some training up. Voldemort isn't the end of the battle, you know. He's right smack dab in the middle. There's trouble leading up to him and trouble after him. If Harry does what we all know he can do and vanquishes the monster, Voldie's followers will have lost everything and every hope in regaining it. There's no doubt that they'll cause bunches of problems, especially for all of you," Lynn explained, hoping to cover the things she was letting slip through her relaxed sleepiness with a scope of the bad things yet to come. Hermione shuddered a bit at the sudden realization that vanquishing Voldemort wasn't half the battle, but was not to be deterred.

"Why would my dreams be important? You see things because you're a seer. I have an extremely low amount of whatever it takes to be a seer in me, Trelawney told me so," Hermione argued as Lynn laughed a little.

"And you know as well as I that aside from a few very important prophesies, Trelawney's not only a fraud, but more of a loon than I am," Lynn laughed and Hermione joined her before becoming serious again, much to the frustration of Lynn who didn't feel like trying to throw her off the subject in the first place.

"Are you saying she was wrong, that I have the seer stuff in me?"

"So to speak," Lynn said, noticing she'd have to elaborate on that if she didn't want too many more questions from the look on Hermione's face. "It's really almost impossible you don't have some sort of special gift like that and if you could let your mind open up to it and accept it as something as reasonable as Arithmancy but as useful as charms, it may just show up. Who knows? You could be a seer or just have an occasional vision like that overgrown insect professor of yours. When the time comes for it to be important, you'll know what gift you have aside from that wonderful mind of yours, if any."

"But you said it's almost impossible for me not to have a 'special gift'."

"I did, didn't I? And it's true as I see it. You're more special than anyone knows, Hermione, it's all in your blood."

"In my blood? Then it'd from my parents?"

"Everything in your blood would be from your parents now, wouldn't it?" Lynn responded, skillfully putting her into a moment of thought in which she was able to close the conversation. "But that's all I'm going to say for tonight. I'm tired and I need sleep. You're best to stop asking questions and looking for answers you didn't know you wanted. They'll come to you, those answers, and rather soon too, I'd imagine."

"Did you see that?"

"Nope. I just believe that with almost one hundred percent certainty that I'm right," Lynn said with a grin, getting up and heading towards the door. "I'm off to bed. Stay up if you want, you heard Remus, but I suggest at least trying to sleep. You have a long day tomorrow, as you've told us all. Sleep well, whenever you get to it."

"You too," Hermione called after her. Lynn stopped a moment to look over her shoulder.

"I certainly hope so."

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Lynn made her way up to her room, found some old worn out pajama pants and an equally old and worn out tee shirt to crash in and was just drying her freshly washed face when she heard a knock on the door. She stood straighter for a moment toying with the idea that it may be someone knocking at the door across the hall and she could just climb into bed and get to sleep. She winced a little as the person knocked again and then considered not answering. Could she pretend she was already asleep? What could possibly be so important that it needed her attention right then and there? She could just say to whomever it was that she had been asleep tomorrow morning when they confronted her about it. Lynn stood frozen in place, barely breathing, as if the stiller she stood, the faster the person on the other side of the door would go away. Unfortunately, the person behind the door was relentless and knocked again, this time calling to her.

"Lynn, I know you're still awake. The light's on," Harry's voice came through the door. "Don't you try that nobody home bit with me! Come on, I had a couple questions I wanted to ask before I went to school and we won't have time to talk in the morning. There's only a couple questions, really!" Lynn sighed as she walked over and opened the door with a wistful glance towards her still made bed.

"I was just about to go to sleep, are you sure this can't wait til later?" Lynn grumbled, but held the door open none the less as Harry walked past her and collapsed not quite gracefully into the chair in front of the cold fireplace.

"No, we won't have time to talk later," Harry said as she closed the door and walked grudgingly to the bed, sitting on the end cross-legged facing Harry. "Nice jammies, classy, really," Harry teased as he noticed her sheep pants worn enough that the sheep were no longer a much defined picture on them.

"Oh sod off. You're the one who insisted on bugging me, you can deal with the pajamas," Lynn said, trying not to hold Harry's bad timing against him. "What's so important that you have to talk to me now?"

"I just was...um...wondering if...or what rather...um..." Harry started, not quite sure what he wanted to say.

"You were wondering what's going to happen tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I guess that's it."

"We're all going to wake up, get dressed, have breakfast, and rush out of here before the Hogwarts Express leaves without you. Then you're going to go on a very long train ride on which fun things will happen with your friends and you'll eat too many sweets before arriving at the Hogsmeade station. From there you will get in carriages pulled by thestrals and will shortly arrive at Hogwarts Castle itself. After your arrival, you will proceed to the Great Hall where Dumbledore will make a speech, the first years will be sorted, and then there will be a grand feast. After the feast you will go to bed and that will be that," Lynn told him quite logically as if he had never gone to Hogwarts before and needed to be told what would happen. Harry shook his head at her.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Harry argued, looking a little peeved.

"Then what do you want me to tell you? That things aren't going to be different? Because they will be and you know they will. Everything is different and there's no going back from that," Lynn looked at him with a strange look that was cross and concerned at the same time.

"Well, I guess I mean to ask how we're going to stay in touch. You're supposed to be helping me prepare to face Voldemort. How are you going to do that from North Wales?"

"Hogwarts is in North Wales too, Harry. And besides, that's a summer home. When I told you that, I meant it. I wasn't staying there before this summer. Remember all the cleaning when we first got there?"

"You're trying to be difficult."

"And so are you. Don't you worry about being ready for Voldemort. That's my job. I get to worry about getting you ready. You get to worry about school and getting good marks and winning the Quidditch Cup again for Gryffindor. Leave the worrying about Voldemort to me. I've had more experience and it's my responsibility. I have my ways, don't doubt me. I promise you you'll be ready," Lynn told him as serious as he's ever seen her.

"Alright, as long as you promise," Harry gave in, deciding that if she could get her way with a very hostile Minister of Magic, she'd be able to make sure he was trained as well. "It's going to be weird, you know, heading back to school. This is only the second time I really regretted having to go," he admitted and Lynn smiled at him.

"I'm glad you had fun this summer, but you're not going to regret going to school at all once you get there. You'll have a great time, it's Hogwarts, after all. I've always wanted to go back since I graduated, but the only job Dumbledore will offer me is Defense Against the Dark Arts and I'd much rather have a job without a curse on it if possible," she stopped as Harry laughed with her. "And you can always come to visit at Christmas."

"It's different, you know, Christmas away from Hogwarts. There wasn't really a Christmas for me with the Dursley's, but there was at Hogwarts. Last year I was at Grimmauld Place for Christmas."

"I don't begrudge you that; I personally didn't bother to visit with my gifts until after the New Year."

"Why would you wait so long?"

"For one, you weren't supposed to know about me and you were there. For two, I just didn't want to be there for Christmas."

"I keep forgetting you weren't supposed to contact me."

"Mm, you would. You weren't the one who had to do the hiding," Lynn said a little solemnly. Before Harry could think of something to say, she got a far off look on her face and asked the most absurd question. "He decorated the elves, didn't he?"

"What?" Harry asked, baffled.

"That's why I don't like being there at Christmas. You know those stupid elf heads creep me out enough as is," she explained and Harry nodded in assent. "Well, Sirius had this thing where he thought they were funny looking or even cute with Santa hats and such," she stopped to shudder. "Somehow, I just found them even creepier dressed up like demented Santa's," she spun the words out in a hurry as if realizing how silly she sounded. Harry looked at her for several seconds, trying to figure out if she was joking or not. Upon deciding she was being serious he started laughing hysterically.

"You didn't go to see your fiancée at Christmas because you were scared of decorated elf heads in the house?" Harry choked out amongst his laughter and Lynn, for maybe the third time he could remember, turned bright red and looked sheepish.

"They give me nightmares. I can't stand them, really. Least of all as demented Santa's," she said softly and sheepishly, laughing a bit along with him.

"On that note, I'll head off to bed and let you get your sleep," Harry said, standing and walking to the door while trying to stop laughing at her.

"Oh thanks! Make me remember an almost forgotten mental image of demented Santa elf heads that give me bad dreams and then waltz off to let me sleep!" she yelled at him, halfway between laughter and anger, jumping to her feet as she yelled.

"Sweet dreams!" Harry called over his shoulder as he left the room.

"You're as evil as he was!" she yelled at the closed door, before sitting in her bed trying to get the image of deranged Santa elf heads out of mind for hours.

..............................................................................................................................................................

"Come on, Harry! It's the first year I can remember that we don't have to run like madmen to get to the train in time! If we hurry a bit slower than usual, we'll have our pick of almost any compartment we want!" Ron called over his shoulder gleefully once he, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Lynn, and Remus got to platform nine and three quarters.

"Every compartment's like the last, it really doesn't matter which you pick, you know," Hermione said reasonably as Ron's ears turned red.

"Unless, of course, you have the good fortune of arriving a few minutes after him and get to choose a compartment on the other end of the train," Harry countered, gesturing with his head towards Draco Malfoy, who was near the front of the train watching some house elves load his trunk into a compartment there with a bored expression on his face.

"That's awful! Making those poor elves come to the station to load your things on the train for you!" Hermione protested as the rest of the party immediately started heading towards the back of the train.

"No, it's awful because he brought those things to the station to display to everyone," Lynn shuddered.

"That's exactly what I'm saying! That he's brought them to display how rich he is and all!" Hermione ranted on while everyone else tried not to laugh because they knew Lynn was only referring to how creepy the elves were.

The students packed their things into the very last compartment of the train and then headed off to meet and catch up with friends they had seen maybe once all summer while at Diagon Alley. After about fifteen minutes of fraternizing, the students started moving towards their compartment once more, having only about five minutes before the train would leave. As they started piling onto the train, Harry stopped and walked to the platform again.

"Oi, Harry! The train's this way, mate!" Ron called after him cheerfully.

"I know, I wanted to say bye to Lynn and Remus. Do you see them? You don't think they left, do you?" Harry asked, looking every which way for his godmother who seemed to have simply disappeared.

"I'm sure they didn't leave without saying goodbye," Hermione said, coming off the train to join him.

"There they are," Ginny said, pointing to the two missing persons who were about halfway down the platform near the far wall talking to a tall figure dressed completely in black. "Who are they talking to?"

"Snape!" Neville squeaked, looking scared. Sure enough, standing there was their potions professor, looking quite out of place with his perpetual sour look next to Lynn's smile and Remus' friendly face, but he was carrying on a conversation in which he was doing most of the talking none the less. As if some weird force let her know something was up, Lynn looked over to a clock on the wall, got a shocked look on her face, and interrupted Snape with a few quick words before turning to walk away. Remus said a few more words to Snape before following.

"Harry! Sorry about that, I got caught up in conversation," she said, reaching her search party through the crowds.

"We saw. I thought you had left without saying goodbye," Harry accused as Neville cut in.

"You know Professor Snape?" he squeaked, now looking a little frightened of her.

"Of course I do. He was a good friend of mine growing up, our families have been friends for generations. Don't look at me as if I'm the devil incarnate, Neville! Remus knows him as well, but you aren't scared of him because of it!" Lynn teased before everyone started their goodbyes. Ginny waited until everyone but Harry said goodbye to Lynn before walking up to her.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything, you know. It's been a great summer and I think it was a huge help to both my parents and the Order to have me and Ron somewhere safe with friends. I just wanted to thank you for everything and wanted to know if we could visit during the Christmas holidays too," she said seriously, but her words held an honesty that pushed aside the initial belief that her mother had commanded she thank her, like Ron had.

"You're very welcome. It was fabulous having so many people around; I'd be delighted if you all would come for the Christmas holidays, family and all! The house is usually so quiet and lonely; it's really been a treat for me to have people around all the time!" Lynn assured her, inviting the lot of them for Christmas before Ginny caught her in an impromptu hug, which, though surprised, she returned. "But don't come before the Yule Ball," Lynn warned and winked at Ginny, who brightened and quickly assured her she wouldn't.

"Well, do I get to say goodbye?" Harry asked, breaking up Ginny's goodbye.

"If you hurry," Lynn teased half seriously as the platform emptied rapidly. Harry reached down (seeing as he was markedly taller) and gave her a hug while everyone else started onto the train.

"I have the mirror in my trunk," he told her as everyone started to call him to the train.

"Good, I hate waiting for mail, too impatient, you see," she said with a smile. "But you'd better hurry if you want to get to Hogwarts on that train. See you soon, Harry."

"Bye!" he waved over his shoulder as he hurried to the train that was just barely starting to move.

"Cutting it close despite being early this year, I can't believe you!" Ron's voice floated out the closing door as the train pulled away. Lynn and Remus laughed as someone not so amused by Harry's grand exit walked up behind them.

"Just like his father, always has to make a scene," Snape commented disdainfully, only causing Lynn to laugh a little more.

"Far from it, actually," she corrected him. "He hates having all the attention and I think you may have something to do with that too, you'd be glad to know."

"It's always nice to take responsibility for the humbling of an enlarged ego."

"I'm sure," Lynn said, rolling her eyes. "So that's the deal? Just as you told us?"

"Just as I told you," he assured her, looking to Remus to make sure they were all on the same page.

"Alright then, I'm in," Remus responded and Snape just nodded and looked to Lynn who looked a bit undecided.

"Maybe you could just cut me out of the whole thing..." she suggested, earning sharp looks from both men, before putting up her hands in defense. "Alright, alright. I guess I'm in too."

"Very good. Let's be on our way then, shall we?" Snape nodded to her as well as he spoke before turning with a dramatic flourish of his black robes as he headed off expecting them to follow without question, once again resembling an overgrown bat. Remus followed with an amused smile to counter Lynn's choked snicker, sharing mirth at Snape's dramatics.