Faith, Hope, and Love: Faith

Retrieval

Kari was sprawled on her bed with the Book of Phoenix Song opened in front of her while she copied notes onto a separate page. It had been two weeks and two days since she had started this project. The only time she had gotten to stop studying was when she had to go to bed or to eat something. Shadow was in charge of reminding her of both, otherwise she might never have noticed, she was so intent on this project. Of course it hadn't helped at all that she had gotten sick no less than three times over the past two weeks. Even now she was feeling tired, but she couldn't give up.

Tomorrow was the big day. Tomorrow she and Dumbledore would attempt the impossible and bring a man presumed to be dead back into the world. Or so she hoped. If only she could be sure her calculations were correct!

Kari shook her head. Now was not the time to doubt herself. She had to believe that she could do it. Otherwise, she would never be able to do anything. Besides, if something went wrong, no one could say she hadn't tried. She rubbed her temples. She was getting another headache.

"Kari?" Her mother called, knocking on her door. Kari quickly sat up and closed the book, just in case Mother came in.

"Yes, Mum?"

"Honey, Professor Dumbledore's here," Mother said. Kari sighed and got up, trying to tame her chaotic mass of red hair before she saw Dumbledore. She opened the door to see her mother waiting for her. "But before you get started, I want you to eat something."

"Mum, I'm--"

"Don't you dare tell me you are fine after you forced me to eat that meatloaf the other night when you said I was looking peaky. You will eat something. Professor Dumbledore can wait," Mother said, crossing her arms. Kari sighed again. Parents were such a nuisance sometimes. Her stomach growled and Mother smiled triumphantly.

"See, your stomach agrees with me."

"Alright, Mum, but it'll have to be quick. I'm almost done."

"Fine. Honestly, you are completely obsessed with this project. You must really want to go back to Hogwarts," her mother said fondly, patting her on the shoulder as they headed downstairs to the kitchen. 'If you only knew,' Kari thought wryly. 'I'm only going back there for you....'

Dumbledore and Father were talking in the living room when Kari and her mother came down. Immediately, her mother grasped the opportunity to play hostess.

"Professor Dumbledore, won't you join us for dinner?" she asked. "You and Kari can give this project its final tweaks after you've both eaten something. If you don't mind my saying, Professor, you're looking paler than usual."

"Thank you for invitation. I will gladly join you. And thank you for worrying about me, Mrs. Tomoe," Dumbledore said, politely bowing to her. "I assure you, it is nothing to worry about. My beard has simply added a few more white hairs in these past few weeks. I suspect I am finally getting old." He chuckled and the Tomoes laughed with him as they all went into the dining room.

Kari merely shook her head at her headmaster. It wasn't age that was giving him more white hairs, of that she was certain. But neither of them would mention what was going on in the Wizarding world in front of her parents.

Dinner was an interesting affair, to say the least. Dumbledore proved to be very knowledgeable about the Muggle world and its affairs, so conversation was mostly normal, with only a few comments about what the Wizarding world used in place of something the Muggles used.

After dinner, true to her word, Mother let Kari and Dumbledore retire to the living room to work on Kari's project. Kari ran back upstairs to her room to get her notes and the book and found Shadow sitting on her bed looking over them all.

"Dumbledore's here," she warned, closing the door behind her.

"I know," Shadow replied shortly. "Is he coming up?"

"No, we'll be in the living room."

"Good. Then I'll be up here," he said stretching. "You misspelled 'time' twice, you know." He pointed with his paw to the offending words.

"Thank you," Kari said, gathering her notes and the book and mentally marking those places in her mind.

"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Shadow asked plaintively.

"I've made up my mind, Shadow. I'm not going to change it now that I've got all the work done," she said, exasperated. They had gone over this a thousand times since she had started.

"Fine. But remember, I refuse to be a part of this."

"Fine," Kari stopped as she realized she couldn't open the door again with her arms full of papers and books. "Would you open the door for me, Shadow?"

"First, promise me," he said stubbornly. "Promise that you won't involve me in this. Even if Sirius realizes who you are." Kari sighed.

"Fine, I promise. Now open the door," she said irritably. She still had a lot to do tonight. He flicked his tail at it and it opened of its own accord. "Thank you."

"Just remember your promise," he called after her. She sighed in irritation. Sometimes that cat was more demanding than he had the right to be.

She got back downstairs to find Dumbledore spreading his own sheets of paper all over the coffee table they would be using.

"I take it Hermione came through for you?" she said as she joined him.

"Beautifully, as usual," Dumbledore said chuckling. "I really should have her do more during summer break. I think she would actually enjoy it."

"She probably would," Kari said. She took a piece of paper from the headmaster and scanned it. "Good lord," she said in wonder, "this would've taken me at least a year to figure out. She did it in two weeks!"

"And that's not all she did," Dumbledore said, indicating the other sheets of paper that were full of neat little notes. "Shall we see what we can make of it?"

A few hours later, they had all of the information they needed. Dumbledore bid Kari and her parents goodbye and left quickly so both he and Kari could get a good night's rest. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

The next morning, Dumbledore picked Kari up at nine in the morning. Shadow gave her a despairing sigh, but her parents wished her good luck as she walked out the door into the bright sunlight. It was a beautiful day. She had everything she needed in a large book bag and was as ready as she would ever be.

Dumbledore was able to Portkey them right into the Ministry and he and Kari got into the elevator with nobody saying anything about their presence there being odd. 'Of course,' Kari thought, 'Dumbledore is probably here all the time anyway, so they would get used to him after awhile.'

"Are you ready?" Dumbledore asked as the elevator started going down to the tenth floor.

"I guess I have to be," Kari replied with a little smile. "It's a little late to turn back now, isn't it?"

"Not really," Dumbledore said vaguely.

"What? After all that hard work? I should at least try," Kari said. Dumbledore said nothing as they got off the elevator at the Department of Mysteries, but Kari could sense his smile. As soon as they entered, an Unspeakable rushed up to them.

"Ah, Dumbledore, so good to see you again. Today's the big day, is it?" he said cheerfully. His smile was completely faked, Kari noted. He wasn't really happy they'd returned. Obviously, Dumbledore sensed it too.

"Yes, it is," he said shortly but politely. "I trust everything is in order?"

"Never better, never better," the man said, bouncing on his heels. "Are you sure you want to do this today, Dumbledore? Could it wait another week or so?"

Dumbledore stopped and looked the man right in the eye. Kari got a very uneasy feeling. Something had happened. And it wasn't good.

"I already discussed the matter with your supervisor, Humphrey," he said coolly. Kari sucked in her breath. It was a rule down here that the names of the Unspeakables be used as little as possible. That was the reason why she had never cared to learn their guide's name the last time she had been down here. Dumbledore had just broken a rule of protocol. This must be very bad indeed. "As he has already given his permission and approval for this appointment and the project, I trust there are no other matters I will need to address."

'Yep, he's mad,' Kari thought. 'Never get Professor Dumbledore mad, you moron. What idiotic thing did you do?'

"Yes, well it's just that...."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrow and the man didn't appear to be able to finish his sentence. Without another word, Dumbledore swept into the room with the doors, Kari following quickly in his wake.

"The Death Chamber!" he barked.

"Identification, please," the disembodied voice said.

"07941 and 08547," he said.

"And 08438," Humphrey added quickly, coming in after them.

"Confirmed," the voice said.

A the door in front of them opened and Dumbledore strode in, stopping dead when he saw what was in the room. Kari nearly ran into him, but avoided him at the last instant and peeked around to see what had happened. She gasped even as Dumbledore turned around to face the man. The Veil was in shambles. The piece of cloth over its entrance was even more tattered and part of one column had been broken off and was lying on the floor. The rest of the Veil was tilting dangerously, as though it was going to fall over at any moment. There was also a distinctly burnt smell in the air.

A wave of pure furious energy swept over Kari and she started in surprise. She wasn't the one responsible for that surge! She looked up at Dumbledore, whose face was a mask of fury. Humphrey was cowering in a corner.

This was Dumbledore at his worst, she knew. Have him fight Dark Lords and evil creatures and the man wouldn't break into a sweat. But put him in a situation where people he loved got hurt or killed, and he blew his top. She had to calm him down, or he might really hurt the man right now. She touched the headmaster's sleeve hesitantly and he looked down at her in surprise.

"I might have time to fix it before we get started," she said quietly. She wasn't really sure if she could, but it was a distraction for Dumbledore to focus on. Humphrey started laughing.

"You? A student? Fix that?" he pointed to the Veil and laughed again. "We had a whole team of Unspeakables trying to fix it up for your little project, Missy. What could a little thing like you possibly do?"

Kari had not intended to tell the man anything about what she was planning to do. She had not intended to tell him he was an idiot. But when he called her a "little thing," she knew what seeing red meant.

"What I can do remains to be seen," she said coldly. "But I certainly won't be stupid enough to try putting a Preservation Spell on an object that represents Death itself."

The man immediately stopped laughing and stared at her in shock. Kari smirked at the man's expression. She had nailed it on the head.

"How did you know what we...?"

"Well then, Kari, shall we get started? If you don't mind, I do not think we will need your assistance any further," Dumbledore said to the man, backing him out of the room and politely closing the door in his face. He turned back to Kari. "Well, this is unexpected."

"Quite," Kari said shortly, climbing down the into the amphitheatre to get a better look of the damage. "Dear God, you'd think people would have a little sense."

"Indeed. Is it fixable?"

"I think so," she said, climbing onto the stage and looking at the piece that had fallen off the rest of the archway. "But it's going to take awhile. And a lot of energy. Damn them. It had better not fall. Otherwise there's no hope."

Carefully, she concentrated and focused her energy into the spell that would fix the Veil without disturbing it even more. That required all of her concentration, because she had to focus the magic to remain away from the Veil as much as possible while, at the same time, trying to bond two pieces of the Veil together using that same magic and tilt the whole thing back into it's original position.

It was tricky, but finally, after ten minutes of false starts and stops, Kari was able to place the piece back into the Veil. The runes glowed briefly as soon as it was back in place, assuring her that the magic in the artifact was still strong and that the temporary interruption hadn't damaged the spell Ambergate had put on it all those years ago. Immediately, she felt a wave of dizziness overtake her. She fell back and sat on the floor, trying to catch her breath. Those ten minutes had taken more out of her than she would've thought possible.

"Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked, crouching beside her. She nodded. She just needed a little bit of time to rest.

"It was worth it. Now I know that the spell hasn't worn off too. Nothing would've worked if that big piece was lost for good," she said.

"And the veil?" he asked, looking at the tattered piece of cloth that covered the entrance. She waved it aside as unimportant.

"It shouldn't matter," she said. "But we do need to get started." She struggled to her feet and opened her book-bag. Inside was her book and many sheaves of notes. Resolutely, she gave Dumbledore a section of it.

"The diagram needs to be drawn on the floor with your wand," she said, pointing to the picture on the first page. "You can see here where it goes," she pointed again, "and these are close-ups of the runes." She indicated the rest of the papers she had given him.

"Thank you, Kari. I can read these fine," Dumbledore said, smiling at her. She blushed guiltily.

"I didn't mean to sound...." He held up his hand to stop her.

"I know. Let's just get started. What do you say?"

"Okay." Kari flushed an even deeper red.

They got out their wands and got to work. Despite how easy it might appear to anyone else, each rune had to be carefully traced. No mistakes could be made, for a single wrong stroke at the wrong place could change the whole spell and cause untold disaster.

After more than an hour of working straight and no few swear words being exchanged with no one in particular, Dumbledore called a break and conjured drinks and a snack for both of them. Kari was only too happy to oblige, all of these unordinary spells had taken more out of her than she had thought they would. She would definitely sleep well tonight! But she was strangely eager to get back to work. She was almost done! Then they would see whether all of that work had been in vain or not.

"What time is it?" she asked Dumbledore, finishing an apple fritter. He looked at a very odd watch with planets on it instead of digits.

"About eleven thirty," he said after a moment. Kari nodded in acknowledgement. They didn't have too much left to do. They would have time to gather their wits again before actually performing the spell they were mapping out.

"Shall we finish then?" Dumbledore asked, waving his wand at his leftover dishes, which promptly disappeared. Kari nodded and finished the rest of her juice, and her cup disappeared as well.

"You know, we might want a booster snack before we start the actual spell," she hinted.

"We'll see when we're done 'spelling,'" Dumbledore said smiling. Kari laughed.

It was an old joke, considering few people these days had enough patience to do the kind of spells that they were attempting, which required the user to literally "spell" out the spell they were performing before actually performing it. People nowadays had no patience for such spells and tried to use shortcuts whenever they could, often times getting less-than-satisfactory results.

That was why Kari had asked Dumbledore to teach her how to do this kind of spell-casting when she got to her third year at Hogwarts. She wasn't a genius like Hermione, but she did like to get good results when she applied herself to a project. Dumbledore had agreed and had arranged for a couple of teachers to show her different ways to do the "spelling," even though Umbridge put a stop to it as soon as she caught wind of it.

Kari smiled at the memory as she got started on her runic pattern again. If only the woman had known that Kari had never really stopped studying, with Dumbledore's help, of course. Besides, it had also given her an many opportunities to talk to Dumbledore about things other students hadn't even dreamed of. The man really was a genius. And what Umbridge didn't know couldn't hurt anybody.

She frowned as her wand went astray and crossed a line it shouldn't have. Biting her lip, she carefully erased the whole rune and started again, this time, not letting thoughts of that mad old toad invade her concentration.

They finished fifteen minutes later. Dumbledore conjured more snacks for them to eat while they looked over their work, double-checking every rune. Satisfied, they took their places to begin the spell.

Kari stood directly in front of the Veil, with Dumbledore behind her and to the right. She opened The Book of Phoenix Song carefully, creasing it so the page wouldn't turn. She couldn't be distracted. All of the numbers were set for this exact time and place. There were no second chances in this. If they succeeded, they would be able to save Sirius. If not, he would die in a noiseless, colorless void.

"It's time," Dumbledore said. Kari nodded and looked down at her book, taking a deep breath. Then she began to sing.

The sun is sleeping quietly
Once upon a century
Wistful oceans calm and red
Ardent caresses laid to rest

This was her part of the spell. The Veil could only be used properly by one of her bloodline, something neither Dumbledore nor Ambergate had ever bothered to tell the Ministry. She alone could activate it. But that wasn't the hard part. The hard part was changing the spell so that the Veil would do the opposite of what it had been designed to do. That was why she wasn't alone right now, and why they had spent hours tracing runes on the floor.

Beside her, Dumbledore began to chant in a long-dead language, making the runes they had traced on the floor glow as he called them by name. Kari continued her song to activate the Veil.

For my dreams I hold my life
For wishes, I behold my night
The truth at the end of time
Losing faith makes a crime

'How true,' she thought. Ambergate was a prime example of a lost faith. No wonder it had been she that had developed this song to go along with her Veil. Now to address the Veil itself.

I wish for this night-time to last for a lifetime
The darkness around me,
Shores of a solar sea.
Oh, how I wish to go down with the sun
Sleeping, weeping,
With you

The runes on the Veil began to glow faintly in response to her song. Dumbledore continued his chant, his voice never wavering. Kari glanced at him before continuing her song. Now they had to narrow down what they wanted. This part had kept her awake for more than one night these two weeks.

Sorrow has a human heart
From my god it will depart
I'd sail before a thousand moons
Never finding where to go

Two hundred twenty-two days of light
Will be desired by a night
A moment for the poet's play
Until there's nothing left to say

She hoped she had gotten all of the parameters right, but there was no turning back now. The Veil was glowing brighter and the fabric hanging from it was flapping hard, as though a wind was starting to form on the other side. Dumbledore increased the tempo of his chant as Kari addressed the Veil again.

I wish for this night-time to last for a lifetime
The darkness around me,
Shores of a solar sea.
Oh, how I wish to go down with the sun
Sleeping, weeping,
With you

A blast of wind burst out from the Veil, denying them what they wanted. Calm as ever, Dumbledore continued to chant beside her and Kari repeated her refrain, determined to win against this object. 'Give me what I want,' she thought at it fiercely.

I wish for this night-time to last for a lifetime
The darkness around me,
Shores of a solar sea.
Oh, how I wish to go down with the sun
Sleeping, weeping,
With you.

The wind howled a descant to her song as Dumbledore completed his chant in sync with Kari's final note. Suddenly, every rune on the ground seemed to fly into the air, straight at the Veil. Kari gasped as it absorbed them, glowing brighter as it did so. The whole Veil trembled and an icy-cold rush of wind whipped through the air. Kari braced herself against it, trying to see what was happening, but at the same time, shielding her eyes from the horribly-bright light. It looked as though the Veil was ripping itself apart.

'Oh no,' she thought despairingly, 'it didn't work; Sirius is going to die in there....'

"LOOK!" cried Dumbledore joyfully.

Kari lowered her arm from her eyes to see that the Veil had somehow opened a space that looked like it was made of nothing but light in its entrance. It looked like a rip in the air, really. And behind all of that light, she could just make out a shape. It looked like it was tied to the tattered remains of the cloth. It was the shape of a man! Sirius! They had done it! She suddenly realized that his hand was entangled in the fabric of the tattered veil and that was what was keeping him from being blown away. Kari couldn't help laughing. Trust stubbornness to come through!

Kari's joy was turned to horror as the Veil suddenly started trembling further. The piece of the column she had reattached that morning suddenly wrenched itself away from the rest of the structure, only to shatter on the steps behind them. The Veil was literally ripping itself apart.

But that wasn't what made Kari go pale. It was the fact that, as soon as that piece had come away from the rest of it, the opening of light that the Veil had revealed had grown smaller. If the Veil continued to break apart, the rip in the air would close and Sirius would be lost again.

"Dumbledore, the LIGHT!" she cried. The headmaster cried out in horror as yet another piece was wrenched away from the Veil and the hole shrank once again.

"NO!!" they screamed together, running towards the Veil. As though sensing them, the wind coming from it picked up force, as though intent on keeping them away from their target. Kari finally couldn't stand against it anymore and had to kneel in order keep from being blown away.

Dumbledore kept pushing on, his eyes only on his target. Somehow, he gained enough strength to summon a long piece of rope to his hand while continuing to march forward, never even slowing. When he arrived at the Veil, he reached into the white hole fearlessly and grasped a part of the shadow behind it. Grimacing in pain, he quickly tied an end of the rope around it before he had to drop his hand. Kari gasped as she saw that his hand was completely frozen. It had to be painful. That was no ordinary freezer.

She wasn't surprised at all when he dropped to one knee in pain and exhaustion. But then he raised his head again, catching her eye. Using his other hand, he flung the rope at her.

"TIE IT TO SOMETHING!" he yelled over the wind. Kari ran and caught it, being blown away from the Veil the whole time. She tumbled off of the edge of the dais, feeling the rope go taut as she did. With all of her strength, she pulled on it. She had to get Sirius through!

The rope refused to give and she felt it slipping out of her hands. The other side of the white hole must also have a wind blasting away from the opening between the two dimensions. Desperate, Kari used her last resort, a spell she hadn't used in years. Instantly, the rope became easier to pull and Kari did just that, allowing the wind to carry her further and further away from the Veil as she did so.

Suddenly, Dumbledore was beside her, his hands pulling the rope right along with hers. Together, they pulled the rope through the opening, revealing the arm that Dumbledore had tied it to. Next came the head and arms, and then the torso, which barely fit through the tiny rip that was still open. As soon as Sirius was completely out, the resistance they were pulling against was suddenly gone. They were thrown forward as Sirius's body flew through the air as though the man had finally achieved flight. Dumbledore recovered instantly from his fall and waved his wand at Sirius.

"Tarditas!" he cried. Instantly, Sirius's body seemed to go into slow-motion and gently fell down to the ground about a hundred feet from Dumbledore and Kari.

But that seemed to be the last straw for the Death Veil. The blast of wind coming from it gave one final shriek and the Veil burst apart into a thousand pieces. Kari and Dumbledore ducked the pieces that flew at them and stared at the remains of the Dark Artifact. The wind died just as the Veil did and suddenly, everything was calm in the room. In fact, the silence was deafening.

Dumbledore sprang up and ran to where Sirius's body had fallen. After a moment of confusion, Kari quickly followed him. She got there to see Dumbledore trying to find a pulse in Sirius's wrist. After a moment, he looked up at her with unspeakable sorrow in his eyes. She knew what it meant. Sirius wasn't breathing.

NO! Kari couldn't bear it. Tears swelled in her eyes even as her heart filled with anger. She grasped her wand firmly in one hand and knelt beside the ex-convict. She was not going to lose him now! Resolutely, she began to thaw his frozen body, trying to start his heart at the same time. All those hours in the Hospital Wing were finally paying off.

"You are not going to die on me now," she said to Sirius, wiping away her tears. "Not now. Not when I've just found you...."

"There! A pulse!" Dumbledore exclaimed, his hand still on Sirius's wrist. "Kari, keep going, we can still save him!"

Kari choked on a cry of joy as she continued to heal him. His body was soon as warm as her own and his heart was beating faintly. Tears of joy streamed down her face.

A few more minutes and his heart was beating as strongly as any man's would if he were simply sleeping. But that was not enough....

"Come on, Sirius, wake up," she pleaded, placing him under even more spells and charms. "Please...." If his brain didn't start working normally soon, they would have a living corpse on their hands. Sirius would be in a coma for the rest of his life, no matter how long he lived. They needed to call him back somehow.

"Sirius, wake up," Dumbledore said softly, leaning close to the man. "Harry is waiting for you. He needs you, Sirius." The arm Dumbledore was still clutching convulsed.

"That's right, Sirius!" Kari said eagerly. "Remember Harry? Your godson? Please, you've got to live for him!" The spasms ceased. Kari cried out in despair. "Please, Sirius! Don't die!"

Maybe it was the memory of the song she had just sung to get him out of the Veil, or maybe it was just her nature, but Kari started to sing, determined to bring him back, any way she could.

I can't understand it.
The search for an answer is met with a darker day.
And we've been handed these moments forever.
But I'm reassured there's another way.

She reached out to grab his hand with her own and sang to him fiercely. He had to come back!

You don't have to close your eyes.
There is room for love again.

Ease the pain to realize

All that love can be.

Forced apart by time and sand,

Take a step and take my hand.

And don't let it go.

Never let go.

The hand she held clutched hers convulsively. Quickly, she tightened her grip and continued her song.

Broken, once connected,
We were so strong and so blessed in a simple way.
So don't let me go it alone.

Sirius's eyes flew open. From the way his pupils were dilated, Kari instantly realized that he couldn't see a thing. 'That is easily healed,' she thought. She bent down closer to him.

Turn your head up to the sky.
Nothing down below but me.
Face the truth to realize
All that we could be.
Torn apart by rage and fear.
Hold onto what brought you here.
Don't let it go.
Never let go.

His face turned towards the sound of her voice and she felt his grip get stronger. He would be just fine. Smiling through the tears still streaming down her face, Kari ended the song.

Turn your head up to the sky.
Nothing down below.
Don't let go.

"Sora?" he whispered. Kari's voice caught and her eyes flew to Dumbledore's.

"Harry?" he croaked, attempting to sit up.

"He's fine, Sirius," Dumbledore said, wiping his own eyes and shaking with silent laughter. Sirius looked up at where Kari's face was, obviously remembering where her voice had come from.

"Sora?" he asked wonderingly, reaching up to touch the face he still couldn't see. Kari intercepted his hand with both of hers and squeezed it comfortingly.

"Sleep now, Sirius," she said softly. "Everything will be fine when you wake up again." He squeezed her hand back and closed his eyes, his body relaxing as he easily fell back asleep.

"Is it safe for him to sleep so soon?" Dumbledore asked. Kari smiled and brushed a lock of hair away from Sirius's gaunt face.

"He'll be fine. His brain waves are normal and considering what he's been through, he really needs it," she said. She looked at Dumbledore still smiling through her tears. "Has he always looked like this?"

"Azkaban does strange things to people," Dumbledore said. Kari nodded.

"By the way, thank you for telling me," she said, "you know, that he was innocent. I don't think I would've been able to bear it if...."

"My pleasure. I only wish we had known the truth sooner," Dumbledore replied. Kari nodded, tears filling her eyes again. Oh, how things would've been different! Neither she nor Harry would've ever wanted for love, that was for sure.

"Come," Dumbledore said, conjuring a floating stretcher for Sirius. "I think you and I need to rest as well. It's been a long day and it's not even dark yet. What do you say we give those Ministry workers a shock?" Kari smiled.

"Sounds like fun. But won't they arrest him?"

"Maybe, but now that the Dementors are gone, I doubt they'd have much success trying to punish him. They'll have to send him to St. Mungo's for awhile, but after that, they won't be able to do much to him except throw him in Azkaban again. However," he added, a twinkle in his eye, "now that they've started believing Harry's story, they really have no choice but to set him free." Kari laughed.

"You really had this all thought out, didn't you?"

Dumbledore said nothing, but just smiled at her again as he lifted Sirius onto the stretcher. Kari tried to stand up, but her legs collapsed underneath her.

"Kari, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked, immediately coming to her side. She gasped as she felt all of the spells she had done that day suddenly catch up with her. She felt twice as heavy as she usually did.

"I'm fine, I just--need a nap," she said. After that, all she could remember was blackness.