Black Aeon

There was something going on with the Potter twins; that much was for sure. The passing of notes, long eye contact and then leaving the Great Hall together did not go unnoticed as the year continued. A rumour briefly started that they were sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest or the Shrieking Shack to make illegal spells and possibly commit incestuous acts but it was rapidly quashed by furious looks from Ron in his official capacity as Head Boy. When the two would return hours later, red cheeked and breathing heavily, the younger years of the school learned to curb their desire for gossip and turned an unwillingly blind eye.

Revision for the NEWTs began to take hold with a vengeance which supplied a handy distraction for Harry and Wylow. To everyone who would listen, Hermione exclaimed that they should have begun revising months before hand and set about helping to organise special sessions so everyone could practice their spells for Charms, Transfiguration, and Defence against the Dark Arts. As their fellow seventh years perfected their techniques with their wands and incantations, Wylow, Arielle and Jacob had to admit that the bossy Gryffindor definitely knew what she was doing when it came to teaching the others what they had been doing wrong and how to improve. For now a truce was called between Harry's best female friend and his twin as they each prepared him for the rest of the year in different ways: Hermione took the academic side, coaching him in his homework and revision whilst Wylow began to train him for the fight of his life.

~

"Ow! 'Ganie that fucking hurt!" Harry groaned, glaring at his twin as he pushed himself off the floor. Completely lacking in sympathy, she rolled her eye at his prone form.

"Of course it hurt, Harry, I just kicked you in the chest."

"Well you didn't have to be so vicious about it!"

"Can you suggest a way to kick someone in the chest without it being vicious? If you had grabbed my ankle and spun it like I have spent the last two days attempting to teach you, you wouldn't have a trainer shaped bruise on your sternum," said Wylow, offering him a hand up which he grudgingly accepted. Harry rubbed his sore chest, glaring balefully at his sister from under his lowered eyebrows. She raised hers at him in return, silently declaring the lack of point in his sulking as it was his fault only. On some level he knew she was right because he hadn't even attempted to grab her ankle as she had aimed a powerful kick at his chest. There was just something in him that really hated the idea of dumping his sister on her head, which he had tried to explain and she had brushed off as his Gryffindor honour and therefore stupid.

Harry stretched out with a groan and reset his feet into the spaced stance which Wylow preferred him to take when she was teaching him to spar. If he could get into the habit of balancing his weight this way, she had said, and then if it came to a real fight he would automatically slip into it and his body would remember what to do even if his mind froze. Rather than rush at him, however, his sister shook her head.

"I think we should call it a day, Jay," she stated, grunting as she twisted her upper body to make her spine click. "I've definitely beaten you up enough." Disappointed, Harry helped her to Vanish bits of equipment which she had summoned from a hidden cupboard in her room. As they cast their spells Harry couldn't help but wonder how much longer this was going to go on for. He was exhausted from the sessions with his twin; it felt like he barely had time to do his homework, see his friends or Arielle. Quidditch was soon to be a fond memory if this training kept eating into his days.

As they left the Room of Requirement he glanced at his sister. She was definitely much improved since the initial weeks after the death of her boyfriend, but the tired rings under her eyes still told of sleepless nights months on from the funeral. It was frustrating that there was nothing that he could do to make things easier or better for her - here he was, the supposedly great Harry Potter and he had been confronted with something that there was no way he could fight. He felt utterly helpless. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice initially that Wylow had noticed him looking and was smiling slightly.

"You're doing it again, you know," she teased gently. Harry smiled and ran his hand through his unruly hair.

"Oh yes? And what would it be that I'm doing?" he asked nonchalantly.

"You know, the usual: checking for horns, the possibility of spontaneous combustion, looking at me as though I'm about to crumble into dust," Wylow responded in the same casual tone. She looked at him more seriously as they stopped at the corridor where he would turn left to return to Gryffindor tower and she would turn right to return to the Head Girl's chambers. "Honestly though, Harry, you don't need to worry about me. I'm doing OK. Not amazingly but definitely better."

"Are you still taking those potions?" The question tumbled out before he meant it to. Madame Pomfrey had given Wylow potions to help her relax, concentrate and sleep so that she could get on with her school work better: she had begun to wake up screaming at night, which put her off sleeping at all. Harry knew he wasn't meant to know about this - Arielle had told him in strictest confidence and now his sister was going to kill him.

"Heh, she told you about those then, did she?" sighed Wylow, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Yeah, I do, every other night. Starting to wean off them now, they aren't for long term use. This is why your best friend should never be allowed to date you brother; you have no secrets. Look, I have homework to do. I'll see you later in the Great Hall for lunch, OK?" she left without waiting for a response, waving over her shoulder to him. Harry groaned; he had definitely not handled that situation as well as he could have done. He had wanted to try to get her to confide in him; they might have been able to go to the kitchens, get a picnic lunch and go to the lakeside to talk about it. He could have been the strong, older twin she needed and he would know what the hell was going on in her head.

Walking back to the common room, he waved absentmindedly at people he passed. With a mutter of the password the Fat Lady swung open and he plodded into the common room where Ron was once again trying to explain to Hermione the difference in the rules of Wizards chess and Muggle chess.

"No, you see, the Queen smashes the rook, which takes it out of play permanently --"

"But then how can my rook become a Queen?"

"Well there are different rules --"

"That's ridiculous!" said Hermione, looking frustrated at the growing pile of rubble which had been her chess pieces. The lanky redhead opposite her buried his face in his hands, grasping at his hair. Harry thought this would be a good moment to interrupt and save Ron from the wroth of Hermione against the "ridiculous game" which was Wizards chess.

~

Wylow stepped out of the shower, towelling off her growing hair vigorously. Though she wouldn't tell him, Harry was getting better every time they practiced: she didn't want him becoming overly confident and as such ruining his progress. If he would just get over his stupid attitude towards fighting back "overly" aggressively against his sister, then things would be coming along even faster.

A noise from her bedroom told her that it wasn't empty. She sauntered in, not caring, and smiled at Arielle who was perched on her dressing stool holding a lipstick up to her face.

"I'm not sure that's the best colour for you," she commented idly as she went through her chest of drawers and wardrobe for her uniform. Arielle looked at her through the mirror.

"Well... maybe red isn't your colour either... bitch?" The girl responded, smiling at her lack of insult. Wylow laughed, tugging her jumper over her head and settling it on her hips. The two of them linked arms and left the Head student's quarters, picking up their satchels along the way.

"So, when exactly are you going to let me have my boyfriend back?" Arielle asked pointedly as they rounded the corner to the Great Hall. "I would like to see him at some point this week, and lo and behold it is already Wednesday and I have not seen hide nor hair of him."

"You have, you see him at meal times daily."

"Yes, see, as in happen to locate him with my eyes. I want to go out on dates, Wyl'! Or at do SOMETHING that equates to being in a relationship!" The strawberry blonde turned sad eyes to Wylow. "I want kisses and I am getting none."

Wylow rolled her eyes heavenwards. "Oh could those eyes get any bigger? Seriously woman, you're acting like I'm doing this to spite you! Tell you what; he's all yours for the rest of the week if you can prise him away from the Gryffindor Study Monster." The two sniggered, then hugged and parted ways with Arielle heading for the Gryffindor table and Wylow turning to the prefects table which she made a point of sitting at once a week at least. She flopped down beside a startled looking Hufflepuff, made a noise of greeting and began to make herself a sandwich. A shadow fell over her plate as she was about to take a mouthful.

"Hello Lu - I mean, Potter." The voice was immediately recognisable and Wylow stifled a groan.

"You never could get used to the name change really, could you Malfoy?" She commented whilst biting into her sandwich as the blonde boy took a seat next to her. He frowned at her sandwich.

"What on earth are you eating?"

"Salami, cheese, tomato and mustard. What's with the face?"

"It looks... Interesting?"

"Sod the niceness Malfoy: what is it that you want? If it's to make another perverse comment about last year, I swear --" she was cut off by Malfoy shaking his head.

"No, nothing like that. I just... I wanted to say I'm sorry about Carlisle. I hadn't said it before so... I came over and said it. I'm sorry and if there's anything I can do..." The statement trailed off awkwardly and Malfoy couldn't meet her eyes. Something about the whole demeanour of the cocky prince of Slytherin looking so uncertain and awkward struck her as absurdly cute.

"Thanks, Malfoy. Not sure what you could do, unless you have a special time turner that won't destroy the space/time continuum, or a raise the dead safely spell, but I really appreciate it." She smiled at him, and then continued to eat her sandwich. A spray of tomato seeds flew out of her sandwich and across the table, hitting a Ravenclaw in the face. With a mouth full of food, a shrieking girl opposite her and Malfoy laughing beside her, the situation couldn't have been more bizarre to Wylow.

~

Hands that smelled faintly of soap and juniper covered his eyes and a cheeky voice coaxed him to guess who. Harry grinned, grabbed the hands, and pulled his squealing girlfriend into his lap before planting a resounding kiss on her lips. Ignoring the gagging noises from a nearby second year he settled Arielle more comfortably so that he could eat his lunch whilst still keeping one arm around her. Ron looked at the pair of them with his eyebrows raised affectionately. "Comfortable, are we?" he enquired as Arielle stole food off Harry's plate.

"Quite," Harry responded in the same light tone, "Though I appear to be losing my sausages to a marauding Slytherin... Oh, and there goes my juice, too."

Arielle scowled at him, and Harry noted the adorable wrinkle in her nose when she tried to look disapproving. "It's not my fault," she claimed after swallowing a mouthful of pilfered food. "If you weren't so busy all the time then maybe I would be able to have my own lunch rather than having to hunt you down and steal yours so as to get some attention." Any potential retort Harry could have thought up was lost as a shriek came from the prefects table, followed by a bellow of laughter. The three of them looked over to see what the cause was; on spotting Wylow in the midst of it there was a silent mutual decision to ignore it and pretend that it had never happened. Arielle slipped onto the bench beside Harry and commenced to help herself to the food at the table. A second year blinked at her in surprise. "Are you allowed to eat here?" They asked abruptly. The strawberry blonde Slytherin blinked back at the now blushing lower year. "Why wouldn't I be?" Arielle asked curiously. There was no response as the younger student appeared to be trying to vanish into his own clothes and was therefore incapable of forming a sentence. With a wry smile, Harry continued his conversation about the pros and cons of the new Nimbus broom with Ron.

*

The owl arrived later that day.

Harry had been sitting in the Gryffindor common room, desperately attempting to look like he was reading about the finer points of transfiguring a chair into a table whilst he was in fact desperately trying to use his very temperamental telekinetic powers to levitate a quill. It hadn't been going well; he was beginning to think that they would only work when he was angry or annoyed, when a soft whoosh of feathers and a gentle hoot announced the presence of the bird before a letter was dropped in his lap. Silently thanking any listening deity for the welcome distraction and excuse to stop, Harry ran his finger under the wax seal and unfolded the letter.

Five minutes later he was still holding the parchment, eyes fixed on the writing. Hermione looked up from her seat by the fireplace where she had been reading. "Harry?" she asked in a concerned manner. When he didn't respond she said his name again, louder. He snapped out of it when she got up and shook his shoulder. "What is it, Harry?" she asked, concern lacing her voice. Without saying a word, Harry rose and strode out of the common room leaving the letter on the chair he had occupied. Hermione picked it up and read it. It simply read

You know what I'm looking for and where it is, with a sketch of a skull beneath it.

~

Once again Wylow wondered how this had happened. She nursed the butterbeer in her hands, taking a sip as she glanced at Malfoy over the table. After she had covered the Ravenclaw in tomato, somehow she had ended up leaving school grounds with the Slytherin boy and going to Hogmeade for the delicious drink she was now sipping on. He looked decidedly awkward as he pushed his hair back and stared at his bottle.

"For someone who wanted to talk, you're very quiet," she pointed out. He blushed and stammered something unintelligible. "This isn't another trap for your father and his friends to turn up again and kill me, is it?" she asked "Because that was so boring." Wylow took a healthy swig of her drink and allowed the question to hang in the air between them.

The silence stretched out, now even more strained than before. Malfoy stared at the table his drink forgotten. Wylow began to feel a little sorry for him and then steeled herself. This was the person who had continually tormented her and her brother, not to mention helped to bring about her untimely and brief death the previous summer. Even if his father had apparently turned spy against Voldemort there were years of anger still boiling below the surface and the odd nice chat was not about to pave over that. She had no reason to feel sorry for him and refused to waste the emotion on it.

"I wasn't there, you know." His sudden speech startled her. She waited for him to continue. "Father said... he said that they wanted to talk to you. Maybe try to turn you to the cause or to try to... control you", he winced at the glare which was beginning to enter Wylow's eyes. "When he summoned the others, I was Apparated out before anything could happen. After Father's day at school anyone still in Hogwarts isn't allowed to be initiated because apparently we aren't trustworthy or committed enough. So I... Didn't know what had happened until Father came home and he and his friends were cleaning up. You made a fair mess of a few of them."

"Why are you telling me this, Malfoy?" Wylow snapped at him, "You're hardly making me feel sympathetic towards you."

"I don't want you to!" he croaked. "I just... I don't know. I needed you to know. And after Carlisle and Snape, I just --"

"Wait, what about Snape?" she interrupted him, a tight feeling in her chest. Malfoy looked confused.

"You don't know? Would have thought a little do-good-fighter like you would have heard by now. He's long since stopped coming to meetings, roughly around the time Father came to see Dumbledore, and the Dark Lord's decided that it's time to get rid of him permanently. He's a wanted man."

~

Harry burst into Dumbledore's office, out of breath from running down the corridors. The headmaster looked up from his desk with a surprised look, his eyes glinting over his half-moon spectacles.

"Is there a problem, Harry?" he asked, beginning to get up from his seat. Before he could, Harry sat down in the chair opposite the headmaster and paused to catch his breath. After a moment he looked up and gasped to the frowning Professor "He knows. Dumbledore, Voldemort knows where Sirius has been."