Destiny Denied

Leo climbed out of bed slowly. She didn't bother to find her robe, or cover herself in any way. She was too busy staring at Draco Malfoy, a supposedly fictional character that had bullied her hero for five years. He looked older than the fifteen he was supposed to be; a lot older. There was deep remorse in his eyes, and he was looking at Leo in a very peculiar way. Fine lines were starting to form around his eyes. His robes, once very fine and expensive, looked as though they had been used for a very long time.

"This is really..." Leo said, though she already knew the answer.

"You're not dreaming," Malfoy said.

"Why would you need me?" Leo asked, not daring to step closer. She didn't know why he was here, or whether he could be trusted.

"We can explain everything later, just take this," he said and held out a key for her. It was old and slightly bent. She took it into her hand to get a better look. The upper corner had thick, orange rust, and one of the notches looked to be broken off. Leo had just figured what it would be, what it must be, when she felt a sudden tug behind her belly button.

There was a whirl of color, a rush of air, and then she found herself fighting for her balance on a cold wooden floor. She looked up, raising her eyes to a darkened drawing room. There were old, musty smelling books lining the wall, and a large, old tapestry hanging on the wall opposite her. Moth eaten, dusty looking sofas were in the center of the room.

Standing there looking at her were three pairs of eyes, one of which was green and looking at her through round wire glasses. She looked upon Harry Potter as though it were a dream, a celebrity of her world, though he really wasn't from her world at all.

Ron Weasley was standing with his arms crossed, surveying her. He was much taller than Harry, but was not as gangly as Leo had expected. His nose was long and splattered with freckles. His blue eyes were shadowed, and not only by his expression.

Hermione Granger was far prettier than Leo had imagined. She had always thought that Hermione would have beyond average looks, but she was positively breathtaking. Aside from her frizzy, out of control hair, Hermione was by far the most beautiful girl Leo had ever seen. She quickly noticed that Hermione wore a plain gold band on her left ring finger, and Leo looked to Ron and Harry to see if they did as well. Ron had his arms crossed, and Leo could not see any ring, but saw that Harry too, was wearing a wedding band.

There was a sharp pop and Leo turned to her left to see that Malfoy had appeared. "Why do I always have to go get the Muggle?" he asked, sounding quite irritated, though Leo could tell there was something in his voice that suggested he was feigning it.

"Hush, Malfoy, you've never done it before," Hermione said sharply. Malfoy rolled his eyes, and saw that Leo was still looking at him. She noticed that he too was wearing a wedding band, though his was silver. He saw this and quickly folded his arms.

"Now, I know this must be a terrible shock to you, and-" Hermione started.

"I've got one question," Leo said abruptly.

"Yes?" Hermione asked, looking like she felt terribly sorry for Leo.

"Why didn't I get a letter?" Leo smiled, and saw that Ron and Harry's faces had cracked into smiles as well.

"We find that Muggles who are extremely interested in Magic often have wizarding children... so most likely your children will be witches and wizards," Hermione explained with an amused grin. Her large brown eyes had not sparkled until then. Leo grinned back.

"Is that so?" Leo smiled. "Well then, looks like I'm getting a jump start here. What could you ever need from me?"

"Well, actually," Hermione began, "I found you on the internet. There was a large convention a few months ago, and you made it into the papers as the Trivia Challenge winner."

"Looks like you're as good with books as Granger is," Malfoy said. Leo turned and looked back at him, and saw him slipping something into his pocket.

"Looks like she's as good with the internet as I am with books," Leo said, surveying Malfoy's eyes to see if she could find any clues. He indeed was the most perplexing; at least, his apparent position on the good-guy team.

Hermione blushed a bit at Leo's words. "Well, you see, Harry's story - our story, has been published to the Muggle world. The woman you know as JK Rowling... we know her as Sibyll Trelawney."

"Professor Trelawney? Really?" Leo was so excited as the reality of this all caught up to her, and her hands had begun to shake. "I would have pegged her as Rita Skeeter!"

Ron laughed out loud, a hearty, deep laugh. "No, no...that louse couldn't sell a book if her life depended on it." Leo smiled broadly, and was slightly aware of the fact that Malfoy kept looking at her. Perhaps it was her hair, that's what it must have been.

"So, I presume she was a better Diviner than she let on in the books?" Leo asked.

"I suppose so. I've never read the books," Hermione said.

"Why not?" Leo asked.

"Dumbledore," Harry said. Leo had avoided looking at him. Partially because his presence and his glare were so intimidating, but also because he was a lot more attractive than she had imagined. And the accent, oh the accent. Leo looked back to Hermione, as she had always identified better with her anyway, both of them being bookworms.

"He charmed the books. No one with magical blood could read them. We tried," he continued, "but he had charmed every copy."

"It was different for everyone. For me, it was as though I were trying to read under water," Hermione volunteered.

"The words were too small, like I needed different glasses. I tried using a magnifying glass, but they only got smaller," Harry said.

"They didn't show up for me at all," Ron shrugged. Leo smiled again. She couldn't help but do that, as there was so much she wanted to know and see.

"Dumbledore kept Trelawney under lock and key. He figured out pretty quickly what was going on after she wrote the first book. At first, we all thought it was just a gimmick, someone else writing their 'personal account' of Harry, but Dumbledore realized what it truly was. He was present for every single book's publication. Each copy he charmed personally," Hermione explained.

"Are you serious? That's millions of books!" Leo was exasperated.

"That's how he did it. He was a lot more amazing than she ever gave him credit for then," Harry scoffed. This was quite a surprise. The last Leo had read Harry wasn't too happy with Dumbledore. Leo suddenly realized where she was standing. She looked towards the tapestry on the wall.

"The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black: Toujours Pur... Holy-" Leo felt her knees might give out underneath her, "This is - I'm in Grimmauld Place?"

"Where?" Ron asked.

"Trelawney must have changed the important details of things. Couldn't very well reveal our headquarters, could she?" Harry asked. His voice had lost the sarcasm and wit Leo had always imagined in it. In its place was cynicism.

"This is 31 Finney Park," Hermione said, "but yes, this is the Black family home and this is where the Order met." Leo instinctively looked towards Harry at the mention of Sirius' family, only to have him look towards the floor quickly, his jaw clenched.

"Okay..." Leo sighed heavily, then took another deep breath. "Okay..." she said again.

"I know this is quite a bit to take in all at once." Hermione had an apologetic tone to her voice. "If you need anything, to sit, tea, a robe - you look rather cold." There was a pause, and they all looked towards Malfoy.

"Fine." He sighed heavily, sounding like a small spoiled child, and left the drawing room.

"We need your help, Lenore. You see, Professor Trelawney has gone missing. We don't know what will happen next. And we don't know our past as well as you do," Hermione said.

"I'll help you of course, I just-" Leo was interrupted by two popping sounds of Apparation. She turned to the center of the room, to see two figures hobbling in, holding onto each other. One had shoulder length, fiery red hair, the other, was tall and plump, with singed blond hair. She recognized them of course, as Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom. They both looked as though they had Flooed into the room, as they were both covered in black marks that looked like soot. Ginny however, had harsh purple streaks on her left side, and Leo realized they must be hex marks.

"Neville!" Hermione gasped, running and helping Ginny support him. He looked to be crying, and Leo noticed both he and Ginny were wearing wedding bands as well. Neville's was plain and silver, but Ginny's was gold and had large red stones surrounded by diamonds.

"It's Luna... she-" Neville gave into a sob. Hermione looked from his face to Ginny's, whose sorrow showed through enough that she simply had to nod. Hermione and Ginny escorted Neville out of the room, while Harry and Ron followed at a concerned distance. Malfoy had just entered the room with a long, dark blue cloak in his hand. He put it over Leo's shoulders as they both watched the other four leave the room.

"Are you tired?" Malfoy asked. "It was only a few hours before sunrise your time..." he said, but Leo turned around to him.

"Is Neville married to Luna?" Leo asked.

"Yes," Malfoy said, and held his hands behind his back, looking at Leo in a very businesslike manner. Leo thought of asking him who he was married to, and wondered if it was indeed past tense, like Neville now was. However, she kept herself from asking, and instead, found herself in an old habit of simply staring into someone's eyes to find the answer. Malfoy however, had very intense eyes, and they held an obvious mystery behind them. Leo had begun running scenarios through her head regarding Malfoy's obligatory change of heart. After a few seconds of finding nothing in his steely eyes, she turned towards the door.

"I'm gonna find Hermione," Leo said as she exited the same door the rest had.

"You don't know your way around," Malfoy objected.

"Yes I do," Leo replied.

It was off course, only partially true, but she was not too keen on being left alone in a room with Draco Malfoy, no matter how much it seemed he had taken a turn for the good. Outside of the drawing room, Leo found herself in a dark hall lined with blackened, aged portraits. She saw one, towards the stairs, with moth-eaten hangings and carefully, quietly, crept towards it. She reached the portrait and noticed that they were not closed completely. Peering inside she saw no portrait on the wall. There were however, deep gashes and burn marks, as well as chunks of the wall itself missing. Breathing a sigh of relief, she started up the squeaking old stairs. Leo was making her way down the hall towards the lone small window before she went up to the next floor. She was halfway down when the door on her right flew open. She jumped and plastered herself up against the wall. The person in the doorway had drawn their wand quickly and accurately, though no spell or hex was cast.

"You surprised me," Harry said, tucking his wand back into his robes. Harry looked her over once. "I see Malfoy found you robes... they fit pretty well." Harry added, "Nice match for your eyes, too."

"Thank you," Leo muttered. A moment of quite awkward silence passed between them. Leo was trying to take in every inch of him, just to commit it to memory. She knew this was not a dream, but she wasn't sure how long it would last. There were other questions she wanted to ask, but was not sure how appropriate they were. She was in completely new territory.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"What?" Leo asked in response, completely surprised.

"You want to ask me something?" Harry responded dryly.

"Legilimency?" Leo asked, quite intrigued by the subject.

"No, common sense," Harry said sarcastically.

Leo bit her lip to keep from laughing. Harry was actually intimidating her more than Malfoy had. She watched his eyes for a while, then began, "You see, the last I've read is your fifth year," a look passed through Harry's eyes, and his face seemed to soften a bit. "Well, he was my favorite chara-" Leo paused awkwardly, "He was my favorite, the one I would have wanted to get to know..." The more she continued, the more uncomfortable she felt. "Did you ever get his named cleared? Do you have a picture of Sirius?"

"Sir - I - Us." Harry corrected her sharply, there was a bit of a growl of impatience in his voice, "No one ever says it right. What a ridiculous name, Serious Black. It sounds like a punk band." Leo quickly stifled a giggle. Logic told her what a gruesome, dangerous situation she now found herself in, but she could not suppress her childish giddiness.

"Well, are there any pictures? Can I see him?" Leo asked, feeling as giddy as if Harry were an actor or rock star. There was a strange sort of strangled reservation behind Harry's eyes.

"It's just - well, I don't mean to intrude, but - I feel like I need some sort of... I saw him through your eyes Harry, and when he died, or rather, when I read about him dying, I felt like I lost him too." Leo said all of this very quickly, feeling both foolish and somewhat selfish. Harry surveyed her for a moment, then nodded, as if assuring himself of something, and reached into a pocket of his robe. The object he pulled out was thick and black, and looked somewhat like a Muggle wallet. Inside however, were pictures of many people, all of whom Leo recognized, as they had been running amuck in her imagination for seven years now.

The first was what looked like a family portrait of the Weasleys. They all had flaming red hair. Mr. Weasley was standing in the back, smiling and laughing with his arm around Mrs. Weasley. He had a shiny spot on the top of his head, and a large, easy going smile. Molly appeared quite as Leo had imagined, short and plump...completely warm and welcoming. She would be on Leo's list of people to meet next. Well, all of the Weasleys would. Then Leo realized that not all of the Weasleys were present. Noticeably Ginny, as Molly was the only female in the picture. But neither Ron nor Bill was in the picture. Leo spotted Percy and Charlie looking relaxed and cool, and quite happy to be around their family. Percy looked just as silly in his horn rimmed glasses as Leo had imagined he would. Fred and George, who were quite good looking, were taking turns making faces at her, and alternately laughing. Leo smiled as she looked at the Weasleys one more time before flipping the small page.

Here, on the left were Moody, Hagrid, and Snape, all sitting in what must have been Hogwarts' Great Hall. Snape looked just as foul and smarmy as expected, though quite a bit greasier. Hagrid was huge, every feature could be described as overly large and words could not do his appearance justice. He was completely overwhelming and left Leo speechless. Moody was quite grotesque, but not at all frightening. His neon blue magical eye, however, was eerily moving around his head and kept fixing itself on Snape.

The right side of these two pictures was what looked like a Hogwarts School picture. There were three teenage, mischievous looking boys, and one beautiful red headed girl, all in black robes with a Hogwarts crest on them, which looked quite different than the crest that was put on all the merchandise. There was one small boy, in what must have been wizarding pajamas. He had thin black hair on top of his head and bright blue eyes. They were all waving and laughing, and the most handsome kept pulling faces. The one next to the redhead was obviously James Potter. Harry's resemblance was just as uncanny as written, and Lily's eyes were the same vivid emerald as Harry's. A sandy haired, tired looking boy, who looked to be the scrawniest and youngest of the four older teenagers, was smiling and waving, then laughing at the two black haired boys. On the far right however, was a very good looking boy with shaggy black hair layered past his ears and bright hazel eyes. He would make faces, and then smile at his friends. He turned and winked at Leo, then pulled faces again. Sirius looked at the small boy and bounced him on his knee until he was laughing adequately, then turned his attention towards the front of the picture, smiling flirtatiously. Wizard pictures were amazing.

On the next set of pages was only one picture on the left side. Leo recognized him immediately; his long silver beard and hair, twinkling eyes and half moon glasses. It was Albus Dumbledore. Leo had just started to turn back to the picture of Sirius Black when the blank spot on the right caught her attention. Grey mist was swirling around inside of it. Slowly a picture of a spacey looking blonde girl was appearing. She had hair that disappeared out of the frame and large, soft eyes. She gave a small, but sincere smile to Leo, who suddenly realized this must be Luna Lovegood, now Longbottom.

Surprised, and slightly fearful that she was right, she snapped the small black book shut, to read the silver writing stamped into the black leather.

"Le livre du mort..." Leo looked at Harry with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, "The Book-"

"Of the Dead," Harry finished. "The ones close to me that I've lost." Leo opened the book again, and now tears had escaped to her cheeks. "The Weasleys, and Lupin, and Hagrid, and-" she gasped, "Dumbledore?"

Harry nodded grimly.

"But - how? If- but... Dumbledore..." she trailed off again, and looked down at the picture of the Marauders. While she was looking at Sirius' face, wishing she could have known him like she now knew Harry and Ron and Hermione, the door Harry had come out of opened again, and Ginny stepped through.

"Last Halloween," Ginny said, catching Leo's attention. "Ginny Potter, pleased to meet you." She held out her right hand, putting her other on Harry's back. Leo smiled, the tears running down her cheeks freely.

"I feel like an ass," Leo said, "I didn't really know these people... I just, read about them, but I feel like..." she trailed off and looked at Ginny, who had small fine lines around her eyes that didn't match the rest of her youthful skin, and suggested great amounts of stress. "I wish I could have met your family." More sadness filled Ginny's eyes, and she pulled the corner of her mouth into almost a wistful smile.

"I wish you could have too." Ginny smiled.

"Quit the tears, darlin'," someone said, gently wiping Leo's cheeks with a soft handkerchief. Leo gasped and jumped. She turned to see a tall, quite handsome redhead, with a dangling earring and a ponytail. He smiled just a bit, and waited a moment, then reached out and finished drying Leo's cheeks.

"Guess they make Muggles a little jumpier than I remember." Bill smiled at her, and Leo couldn't help but smile back.

"Hi Bill." She smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"And Hermione's right again. Just as brilliant as she promised you would be." Bill smiled, tucking his handkerchief into a pocket.

"Well, it's not everyday I see someone with long red hair and a dragon fang earring." Leo smiled. He looked as though the years of fighting and stress had caught up with him as well. He looked perpetually tired and, glancing down, Leo realized he was missing his left leg underneath the knee. In its place was a strange, silver foot.

"Courtesy of our dear Draco Malfoy." Bill said, "Lost it when we lost the Burrow." He said matter-of-factly. Leo felt another wave of sadness flow over her, and the reality of it all was beginning to set in.

"When was that?" Leo asked, and glanced at both Bill and Harry, though Harry had a quite different type of sorrow than Bill.

"He's asleep," Hermione announced as she and Ron stepped into the hall. "Dreamless for a while." She simply sighed heavily after that. She looked at them all.

"Well, I was sent up to get the lot of you for lunch. Malfoy said Dobby made French Onion soup," Bill said.

"That's my favorite," Leo smiled, though the mood was still quite heavy. They all wordlessly started towards the staircase after a long, passing moment. Leo, without thinking, tucked the small black pocket book into the robes she was wearing. She followed Harry and Ginny, but Ron and Hermione were hanging behind, whispering to themselves.

"How bad was it?" Ron asked quietly. Leo was straining her ears to listen. However, the sound of six people walking down the stairs drowned out most of what Hermione was saying.

"-he doesn't... -but there were too many pieces... -Ginny suggested we use a memory charm..." Hermione said. A sudden fear clutched Leo by the stomach, and she wasn't too sure she'd be able to eat anything. Leo turned towards the basement stairs, and she knew they would be approaching the kitchen soon. She noticed though, that Bill had been watching her face.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Lenore," He said softly. But Leo clenched her jaws, pressed her lips together and with a determined sigh, nodded her head.

"I know. But I want to." Leo answered him resolutely. They turned into the kitchen and Leo saw that Malfoy had already situated himself at the table, and was eating his French Onion soup. There were six other places set at the table, three on each side. Absentmindedly, Leo just followed Hermione, as she felt most attached to her. Everyone but Bill sat opposite Malfoy, which meant that Ron and Harry had to move their soup across the table, so not to sit on the same side as Malfoy, putting five across from two. He seemed to give them all a little sneer, but continued on with his soup nonetheless.

"We lost Luna, anyone else?" Harry asked, poking his cheese angrily.

"No. Kingsley was hurt, but it was nothing major." Ginny said, "Tonks got him to St. Mungo's quickly enough." Leo suddenly realized that Ginny still had hex marks all over her.

"You're fine though, right Gin?" Ron asked, chewing on a long piece of a cheese string. Leo tried not to laugh at him.

"So are we even going to try and have a funeral for Luna, or will there be another memorial service?" Harry asked, using the tip of his wand to slice the cheese strings that came up from his soup.

Ginny looked to be slightly more grim than earlier in the conversation, but Hermione looked just as disturbed as Leo. "It was Rumpia at close range," Ginny said. Bill shook his head and turned his attention to his soup. Leo glanced around at their faces.

"Uh, what's Rumpia?" she asked. "It was never in the books."

"It wouldn't be, Lenore." Hermione sighed, wiping her cheek quickly, "It's dark magic." Leo nodded and looked at her soup briefly, but on the way she noticed that Malfoy was looking at her, and this made her more determined to look at her soup. However, something nagged at the edge of her brain.

"What does it do?" Leo asked hesitantly, and looked around. Hermione had her eyes wide, and Ron glanced away when he met Leo's blue eyes. She turned and looked on her other side, towards Ginny and Harry. Ginny gave her a surveying look while she inhaled sharply through her nose. Harry on the other hand, licked his lips.

"Did you ever put a hot dog in a Muggle microwave without putting holes in it first?" he asked, his voice with a detached dryness that Leo did not like at all.

"Subtle, Potter," Malfoy said disapprovingly. Harry simply turned and glared at him. Leo looked down and poked at the cheese on top of her soup. There was quiet around the table for a moment, and then Hermione cleared her throat slightly.

"Well, Lenore, whenever you're ready, we can sit down and fill you in on everything," Hermione said.

"All right," Leo answered quietly, still staring at her soup and wishing her imagination wasn't so vivid. There was a long moment of awkward quiet again, and Malfoy spoke.

"You shouldn't have said anything, Potter," Malfoy spat.

"Sod off, Malfoy. You're not exactly the master of tact." Harry responded venomously.

"She reads; she's got a good imagination. You should have left the explaining to Granger," he sneered.

"It's Weasley, and has been for quite a few years, thank you." Hermione answered briskly, sitting up a bit straighter.

Leo however, instantly cooled the tension by giggling slightly. They all looked thoroughly confused at the small grin she wore. "I knew it."

She looked up to see them all looking at her curiously, "Well, come on, I mean, all those Harry/Hermione shippers are nuts." Leo said, "It's a bit obvious." She grinned sheepishly, and felt her cheeks turn slightly pink. She swore she saw Harry grin just slightly, and again, caught Malfoy looking at her. To avoid the strangeness now, she looked down at her soup, and began to eat slowly, to get her mind off of him.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, as they all seemed to realize what they had briefly been distracted from. Harry cleared his throat, "Well, tact or not, there are things that we need to discuss," he said with a slight sneer, and Leo saw a glance pass between him and Malfoy. "What are we going to do now with Luna out of the picture and Neville as good as gone?"

"We could just let the Potions Master handle it," Bill said, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"I thought Snape was dead," Leo said.

"He is," Malfoy answered, staring Leo down again. "I teach Potions at Hogwarts now."

"Figures." Leo said, shrugging a bit and looking down at her soup again. She could feel Malfoy's eyes lingering on her for a moment longer.

"I didn't just mean their Potions abilities." Harry said with a slight sigh, "Neville's going to be out of it for a while, that drops us down to six."

"What about Tonks and Kingsley?" Hermione asked.

"I meant the core six, Hermione," Harry said, with the vocal equivalent of rolling his eyes at her. "Eight was not good to begin with, but you know he's still at least 40 strong. If he was able to get Luna from just a simple Ministry mission... what exactly were you doing, anyway?"

Hermione looked quite awkward, and her eyes were wide, as though she had just been asked a horribly embarrassing question. "Luna and I had been working on something. That's why we grabbed Lenore, if our thesis was correct, we would need to get something from the Department of Mysteries." Hermione explained, eating her soup neatly.

"You should have told me so I could go with them," Harry said, poking violently at his cheese. Hermione looked slightly pale.

"I didn't think you'd want to go back there," She said quietly. There was very little talk now, and a sense of heavy sadness and thick dread lowered over the table. Leo had only taken a few spoonfuls of her soup, but was unable to eat any more as her nervousness and fear begin to take its toll on her stomach.

Leo glanced up from her soup, setting her spoon down, just to catch Malfoy's eye again. Luckily for her, the door to the kitchen opened, and a fairly pretty girl with a pointy face and short, neon green hair stepped into the kitchen. She sighed heavily and sat next to Draco, putting her elbows on the edge of the table and holding her face. She looked to be quite as down as the rest of them felt. Leo looked to Malfoy, who looked completely surprised to see her, though she seemed not to notice. Her eyes however, fell onto Leo.

"Who are you?" she asked in a very childlike manner.

"Lenore Lector." Leo introduced herself, as Hermione had a mouthful of cheese.

"An American! What school did you go to?" she sounded quite excited.

"Oh, uh-" Leo wondered how best to say that she was non-magical.

"She's a Muggle, Tonks." Hermione spoke for her.

"Oh," she looked quite surprised, "Welcome to the Wizarding World... I guess." There was a long pause again, and Leo was growing quite weary of them. Tonks turned to Harry, "What is she doing here, anyway?"

"I was just beginning to wonder that myself," Leo said quickly to keep her fright from showing.

"Oh, well I've brought her here to help us. I have a theory that I was working on with Luna," Hermione trailed off slightly, but then took a deep breath and continued on quickly, "and-" her voice broke, and she cleared her throat, "and Lenore knows Trelawney's books extensively, so if she can-"

"You've recruited a fan?" Tonks nearly laughed, and Leo's stomach tightened even more as she was insulted. "We must really be hurting..."

"They've had Trelawney for over a month!" Hermione said, sounding quite flustered, "Jessica is going to come back from the Holidays with her cousins in France to find out that her mother's been missing! If we don't do something soon it's only going to get worse, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to see what happens next!"

"Chill, Hermione." Tonks sighed, "Geez, I was only saying-"

"I know what you're saying, Tonks, but someone had better start thinking of something, and it looks like I'm the only one around here who hasn't given up!" With that, Hermione slammed her spoon down and stormed out of the kitchen.

They all watched her out, and Ron sighed slightly, as though he felt sorry for Hermione, and got up to quickly followed her. Tonks shook her head slightly, but Harry simply continued on with his soup as if nothing had happened.

Leo kept watching her soup, but eventually, pushed it away. She swallowed hard and looked around. Now that Hermione had left the room, she felt completely alone. She didn't feel comfortable enough with any of the others, and didn't exactly want to get up and walk out of the room alone.

"Shacklebolt will be fine," Tonks said, folding her arms.

"He's not in little pieces and nothing's missing?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"He was a bit more fortunate than Loony, if that's what you mean." Tonks said, and Leo looked at her in exasperation, and swore she saw a twitch of a smile in the corner of her mouth.

"That wasn't very nice," Leo said flat out.

"Look, Lauren," Tonks started condescendingly.

"Lenore," She corrected.

"Whatever. If you can't learn real quickly to let these things roll off you, you won't survive a week here," she said sternly, as if lecturing a small child, which Lenore did not appreciate at all.

"Give her a break, Nymphadora, she's not going to have to see anything like that," Malfoy said. It confused Leo to no end that he kept standing up for her.

"What are you doing here, by the way?" Tonks turned on Malfoy with a slight bit of annoyance in her voice, no doubt from the use of her first name. "Your mother said that you were on Holiday."

"I couldn't stay away," Malfoy sneered sardonically.

"What's with the mood, Tonks?" Bill asked.

"Just a little grouchy about Longbottom, that's all," she sighed.

"I'm more interested in what's gotten into Saint Malfoy," Harry said, glaring at him.

"Clever," he replied dryly.

"I'm, um," Leo said, trying to find an excuse to get away from Harry and Malfoy, "I'm going to go find Hermione," she said, standing from her seat, and leaving, quite aware of the many pairs of eyes on her.

Leo was pacing around the drawing room nervously. Her head ached, first from a lack of sleep, but mostly from the amazement of her current situation. While Malfoy had found her robes, he had not found her shoes, or anything to cover her feet, and the floor of 12 Grimmauld Place, or rather 31 Finney Park, was quite cold even though it was late August. She had been with Hermione in the drawing room since after lunch. Which was another thing contributing to her headache. Her stomach hurt from not eating, but was too upset to eat anything: Hermione felt the same and so they had both skipped dinner.

She'd been scrapping the back of her brain for all of the Harry Potter information she could recall. The problem seemed to be, that every time she could think of something important, Hermione could not help her develop her idea. It was the tiny details that Leo knew that had brought Hermione to call for her help, and it was the tiny details, the hints buried deep within the literature itself, that Leo could not recall clearly. She knew she knew it, but it was like throwing a ball off of a roof; there was no way to review her ideas once they were out in the open. She needed a wall.

"Well, what happened after that?" Hermione asked, her quill perched readily over her parchment.

"You know what happened next, Hermione," Leo sighed heavily. Her head felt like it might split open, and she knew what pain was described in the books whenever Harry's scar gave him problems.

"Well, perhaps we should try moving on to our fifth year-"

"I know fifth year the least," Leo said.

"But you won that competition right after it's release," Hermione reasoned.

"That's because I had just finished it, I haven't read book five since." Leo sighed. She had dreaded admitting it at all, but most of all, she dreaded the question that was waiting readily on Hermione's lips.

"Why?" she asked, looking both saddened and surprised.

Leo sighed and stopped her pacing, looking down at the floor, feeling embarrassed, and slightly ashamed. "Sirius," she admitted after a moment. "I just - when he died, I didn't want to read the books again. I felt like a part of me died. And watching Harry in so much pain, and the unfair treatment, and that horrible woman-"

"Umbridge," Hermione growled.

"-It was just so terrible. I didn't enjoy the books like I used to. And part of me knew that I wouldn't ever again. There were awful things that had to happen in order to get to the end and it all just all felt so wrong." Leo said, sitting heavily on the couch and grabbing her forehead.

Hermione was quiet for a moment, then closed her ink bottle and set her quill and parchment on a nearby table. "It was wrong of me to want to work so hard so soon. I'm sorry."

"No, Hermione," Leo sighed again, and had the horrible feeling that she was being childish and selfish. "I want to do this for you. I can do this for you-"

"Lenore, I know," Hermione said in a comforting manner. "But you've been awake far too long, and you're stomach is empty. This was too much to ask of you all in one day. I'll take you to your room so you can get some rest."

Leo couldn't help but smile at her. "Thanks. I'll be better tomorrow."

"Don't worry. Let's get to bed. It's been a long day for us all." Hermione sighed, patting her hand. She stood and stretched a bit, and waited for Leo to get to her feet. They silently left the Drawing Room, and once they reached the Hallway, Leo let out a long, deep yawn.

Hermione turned a corner, and without knocking, opened a door on her right. Not knocking would not have bothered Leo, if the room had not been occupied. Draco Malfoy was stretched out on the bed, a book open in his lap. He looked up lazily from his book, as though he were not at all surprised to see the two of them.

"I suppose this is my cue to exit," he drawled, closing his book.

"Unless you'd like her to sleep on one of the couches in the drawing room..." Hermione said, a bit of sarcasm to her voice.

"Don't be stupid, Granger, she can sleep in here." Malfoy said, swinging his legs off the bed and walking towards them.

"It's Weasley, now-" Hermione corrected and the two of them bickered a bit. Leo ignored them, and instead, spent her time looking at the room. There were heavy black drapes hung across all of the walls. In the corner there was a small dark blue couch that looked to be quite old. There was a four poster bed in the center of the room, with two small end tables on either side, each bearing an oil lamp. There was one small grimy window, and Leo assumed that this was one of the two front windows. The sheets on the bed were black as well, and there were four pillows on the bed. It looked quite inviting to Leo in her tired state.

Malfoy gave Leo a long, appraising look on his way out that Leo had strangely grown used to in her short time there. She turned her head just slightly to meet his eyes on the way out, and it seemed he did not expect it, though he did not look away.

"Well, this used to be the room Ginny and I slept in on Holiday before going to school," Hermione began to explain once Malfoy was out of the room.

"I know," Leo said.

"Right," Hermione said, nodding a bit to remind herself, "Well, it's Malfoy's now that he's working with us. It's not the type of room I'd like to give you, but it's the only one available."

"It's not really available if Malfoy's living in it, is it?" Leo asked, looking around once more. Hermione looked a bit surprised, and it took her a moment to respond.

"Oh, well, I suppose. But it's just Malfoy," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Leo laughed slightly. "We have to talk about him tomorrow." Leo sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the rain that had begun outside.

"He's acting quite strangely today. He didn't put up much of a fight when I asked him to get you, and he's been remarkably... well, subdued," Hermione said. Leo laughed in approval.

"It's safe to say that none of you are really like I imagined you. Though the little boy they cast to play Harry in the movies looks surprisingly like him." Leo smiled largely, and Hermione chuckled in appreciation.

"All right, come down to breakfast whenever you like. I won't wake you, and I'll make sure no one else makes too much noise. Goodnight, Lenore," Hermione said, making her way to the door.

"Goodnight, Hermione," Leo answered wistfully, still staring out the window. She sighed heavily, and after Hermione had closed the door and her footsteps had died away in the hall, Leo took off her dark blue robe and draped it on the end of the bed. She pulled down the sheets, which were still warm where Malfoy had been sitting on them, and climbed in. She was so tired that it felt as though her very bones were aching.

Leo's eyes were closed before her head even hit the pillow. Her mind was already wondering off into itself, recounting the day's events, when she suddenly realized what she had seen on the night stand. Her eyes bolted open. There on the wooden end table was a woman's ring. It was a silver band, with what looked like a large emerald. It had small diamonds around it, and four shiny black stones that must have been onyx. She sat up, scooping the ring into her hand to look at it better, and it felt as though an idea had just Apparated into her head with a resounding snap.

She pushed the blankets off of her, and carefully set the ring back on the table. Without bothering to put her robe back on, she made her way out of the bedroom, and down the hall. Without thinking to check the drawing room, she made her way down to the kitchen. Malfoy must have heard her on the stairs leading down to the basement, because he did not look at all surprised to see her.

Leo leaned in the doorway, looking at Malfoy as though she were about to accuse him of something. She meant only to ask him questions, but being that it was Draco Malfoy her manner was not as light hearted. He had been reading the same book, but closed it and looked at her.

"Who was your wife?" Leo asked, still leaning on the door jam. A small smirk appeared on his lips, and he looked down at his tea.

"Which one?" he asked, setting his book beside him and folding his hands, looking back up at Leo.

"You were married more than once?" she asked, cautiously approaching the table and sitting across from him.

"Twice actually. My first wife was Pansy Parkinson. You'd know her from school, yes?" he asked, conjuring a second teacup with his wand. Leo was so distracted from seeing actual magic that it took her a moment to respond, and when she did, she felt she might resemble a monkey.

"What? Oh, yes," she answered. Malfoy seemed to chuckle to himself, but poured tea into the cup.

"We were engaged from early on, you see. Our families had arranged it. We met on the Hogwarts express for the first time," he said, dropping one lump of sugar into the cup, and just a bit of cream. He tapped his wand to the brim of the cup, and the contents mixed themselves. Malfoy slid the cup across the table to her, and she was amazed that he knew how she liked her tea.

"Do wizards have divorce?" Leo asked.

"No, why do you ask?" Malfoy replied, sipping a bit from his own teacup.

"You said you've been married twice." Leo drank a bit of her tea, and it seemed to have the warming effect she was looking for.

"Oh, yes," Malfoy continued. "Pansy was killed only a few months after we were married. Probably better for her, she wasn't too thrilled about being wife to a traitor," he said, setting his cup down.

"And your second wife?" she asked. A smile spread across Malfoy's face. It had quite a softening effect, and he looked nowhere near as unapproachable as before. It slightly startled Leo.

"My second wife was everything I needed. A complete opposite of myself. She was very pure, even still a virgin," he said. Leo cringed slightly and looked down into her teacup; that was not quite the way she wanted to picture Malfoy.

"Though that's a little more than you wanted to know," he said with a mischievous grin. Leo looked back up at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Complete opposite?" Leo asked.

Malfoy smiled again. "Let's just say that if my father had not been dead when I married her, he would have killed us both for it." Leo nodded in understanding, though Malfoy was wearing a very calculating expression.

"You know when you just find someone, and right away you know you want them?" he asked. Leo had to look away from his grey eyes and pretended to find something interesting to stare at in her tea, as she had a funny feeling his most recent question applied to her.

"No, I've never had a boyfriend. I don't meet very many people. I usually have my nose pressed in a book." Leo smiled, laughing a bit.

Malfoy smiled. "Don't worry, even Granger managed to find somebody. Granted, it was a Weasley..." he said with a slight joking manner, and lifted his cup to his lips.

Leo found herself laughing with him, "You're a lot easier to talk to than I imagined." She smiled broadly at him, and quickly realizing what she was doing, looked determinedly at her tea again.

There was a moment of passing silence, as though he had realized what she had hoped he didn't.

"No, it's just you." There was another bit of quiet, in which Leo found herself resolute to not looking up at Malfoy, though she knew his eyes were waiting.

"So," he started, and Leo could hear him drink his tea. "What did you imagine me to be like?" he asked.

"Well," Leo felt a little more comfortable looking at him now, "I didn't expect you to be on the right side, for one."

"It doesn't really look like I picked the winning team though, now does it? So I don't know if I'd call that right," he said, looking slightly resentful.

"Aren't you a spy?" Leo asked, slightly surprised.

"No, my trial was far too public, being a student and all. Wouldn't go back though, even if the Dark Lord himself promised me safety." He looked quite uncomfortable talking about that. "I'm sure Granger's explained everything, back to the original subject?" and he flashed Leo such a smile that this time she had to avert her eyes to avoid getting butterflies in her stomach.

"It's Draco Malfoy," she reminded herself silently. "It's Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy!"

"Well... I wouldn't have guessed that you would talk to me; a Muggle," she said.

A looked passed briefly behind his eyes, "Well, ten years can change a person."

"It's only been seven." Leo corrected without thinking.

"I rounded up," he drawled.

"Ugh! I hate that! I could always hear exactly what you sounded like whenever I read!" Leo said, in such an outburst that Malfoy was left to simply laugh at her exuberance. Leo couldn't help but laugh a bit too, and she found herself smiling mutually at him.

"Every time you drawled I wanted to smack you!" she said, holding her warm teacup in both hands.

Malfoy smiled a flirtatious, nearly leering smile at her. "I could say something about you smacking me, but now might not be the right time," he said, emphasizing the last word. Leo was too busy gasping to notice. This only made Malfoy smile broader. Leo laughed slightly as they both listened to the rain grow harder outside. She chuckled slightly and finished off her tea quickly.

"I'd better get off to bed. I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow," Leo said.

"Yes, you do," he agreed, finishing off his tea as well. He picked his book up in his hand and stood from the table as well. "I'll walk you to my room, Leo." He smirked, and Leo simply smiled and shook her head. She was quite surprised that she was getting along best with Draco Malfoy, of all people.

They made their way quietly up the stairs and down the hall, so not to disturb anyone on the upper floors and wake them. Leo had nearly forgotten how horribly dark the bedroom was until she returned. This time, Malfoy had followed her in and closed the door.

"Don't look so surprised, I'm not trying anything; I'm just sleeping on the couch," he said, taking off his outer robe. Leo nodded and looked around the room again.

"Decorate it yourself?" she asked. "It looks like the inside of a coffin."

"Well," was all he said. He walked to the closest drapery, opened it, and pulled it back to reveal a lividly pink wall, with what looked like a white unicorn and a bit of a rainbow. There looked to be tiny stars and hearts on the wall as well. Leo laughed so suddenly that she surprised even herself, and quickly covered her mouth.

"Compliments of Granger and Weasley, before they gave up the room to me," he said, sitting on the couch.

She sat down on the bed, so not to fall over laughing. Malfoy put his book and his shoes on the floor next to the couch, and began to get ready for sleep.

"And as clever as Hermione is, I'm sure there was nothing you could do to change the walls." Leo was still smiling broadly.

"You're pretty clever yourself," he said, leaning back on the couch and draping an arm on one side.

"Thanks," she said, looking out the window one more time. She had always loved the rain, and she attributed most of it to her home, where rain was a cause for celebration, not woe. But something just outside the window caught her eye. She stood from the bed, and her expression slack, walked slowly towards the window.

"What's the matter?" Malfoy asked.

"There's someone outside," Leo said quietly, and when she could clearly see, gasped in surprise. She took a step backwards, but Malfoy was right behind her, glaring out the window as well.

Outside were five hooded figures, all looking to be quite bewildered. Leo looked up at Malfoy's face, which was looking intently out the window at the Death Eaters.

"Well, this is different," he said distractedly.

Leo was having a hard time finding her breath, and her knees had the familiar tingle of weakness. One of the hooded figures was approaching the window, and lowered its hood. Leo suppressed a scream, and instead, found herself covering her mouth after a strange, strangled noise escaped. She had tried to take another step backwards, but instead had found herself firmly situated in Malfoy's arms. He had one hand on her elbow, the other on her upper arm, and their bodies were pressed together.

"Don't worry, he can't see us," he said quietly, though there seemed to be a trace of fear in his voice as well. Red eyes looked to be staring into the room, as if looking for something but seeing nothing. Voldemort's pale skin was stretched over his skull grotesquely, and Leo knew that none of the five books had described his horror, and the terror his mere appearance produced, accurately.

"Calm down," Malfoy said quietly. "Do you remember the principles of a Fidelius Charm?" he asked.

"Yes," Leo said softly, and quoted the book from memory, "Couldn't see you if they were staring in your window." She was breathing heavily, and could feel her own heart beating like mad within her chest.

"How can you all live like this?" she asked softly, scared that perhaps Voldemort could hear her. Malfoy sighed.

"We can't. Why do you think we got you? We needed help," he said, still holding her closely.

Another light seemed to go off in Leo's head, "Help?..." she murmured.