Harry straightened up in time to see Malfoy coming towards him, his wand raised. But when Malfoy noticed that Luci had come to, he dropped his hand and hurried to the other side of the bed.
“You’re awake!” he said happily.
Harry was trying to shake the cobwebs from his head.
“Hello little brother,” Luci said warmly, her smile bright and welcoming, though Harry wished that the Slytherin boy would just go away.
Malfoy gave her a brief sickened look, but then grinned again.
“You saved my life,” he said to her, with more fondness than Harry had ever heard out of him.
Luci was beaming. Harry knew that Malfoy’s acceptance meant the world to her.
“You were pretty brave yourself,” she replied. “Have you forgotten that you saved mine too?”
Was Malfoy blushing? Gross.
He seemed to suddenly realize that Harry was still in the room.
He whirled around. “You almost killed her! What were you thinking?”
This was an entirely different kind of wrath than Harry was accustomed to seeing from Malfoy.
Harry took a step back. “I… She…” He threw his hands into the air, as if in surrender.
“Draco.”
Malfoy turned to his sister.
“He knew it wouldn’t kill me,” she stated softly.
“That’s impossible!” scoffed Malfoy. “He used that same spell on me! I was lucky Professor Snape was there or I might’ve been killed myself!”
“Harry would never hurt me.” Luci gave Harry an intense glance, and Malfoy picked up on it.
He looked horrified. “When I walked in…” A revolted pause. “What’s going on?”
Luci opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the arrival of her mother.
“Luci! Oh, thank god!”
The small brunette woman rushed to her daughter’s side.
“Mama!” Luci cooed, reaching her arms, beckoning.
“Why didn’t you come and get me, boy?” Melissa Keegan said to Malfoy, who was obviously at a loss for an answer and just shook his head.
Luci and her mother lovingly embraced one another.
Since Malfoy seemed to still be frozen in shock, Harry seized his arm and led him from the room.
Once they were in the corridor, Malfoy found his awareness. Harry tried to escape before he had to explain that kiss, but the other boy grabbed his shirt to hold him back.
“You were snogging my sister,” spat Malfoy accusingly.
“Yeah,” Harry replied blithely.
“Why would you do that, Potter?”
“Look, Malfoy, you can take this up with Luci.”
“I’m taking it up with you,” Malfoy growled.
He snatched the collar of Harry’s shirt. He was still much taller. Harry could actually hear Malfoy boiling with fury.
“Explain yourself,” he hissed.
Harry swatted at his hand. “Get off me!”
Malfoy’s face contorted into a particularly ferocious glare. “Stay away from her!” he snarled.
Harry was finally fuming too. “I love her, all right!”
Malfoy looked as if he’d been hit by a Stunning Spell. He released Harry and took a step back.
“W-what?” he croaked.
“You heard me.”
“It’s… true?” choked Malfoy.
“Yep.”
He stared blankly at Harry for a few moments, and then spat, “You have to have everything, don’t you?”
Harry frowned. “What are you going on about?”
Malfoy took a deep breath. “I have a sister. Do you know what that means to me?”
Harry was taken aback by the note of emotion in Malfoy’s voice. They had both been only children. Yes, if Harry found that he had a sibling, it would mean a lot to him, too.
He had yet to say anything, so Malfoy went on, “I won’t let you take my sister from me, like you take everything else.”
Floored by this accusation, Harry could only shake his head in response.
They looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity.
Finally, Harry said, “Look, I couldn’t take her from you if I wanted to. Do you not see that? I tried to set her straight about you, but she wouldn’t have it. She came here for you, and it’s been about you the whole time.”
Malfoy gave Harry a scrutinizing glare.
Harry went on, “We have feelings for each other, but it doesn’t change how important you are to her.”
For the first time, truly realizing this himself, Harry felt a pang of dread. He was in for a lot of Malfoy if he intended to pursue a relationship with Luci. Of course, she was making it so difficult that it seemed nearly impossible to get through to her at this point anyway.
Malfoy seemed to be comforted by Harry’s words, but he still looked angry.
“She couldn’t have fallen for you,” he began uncertainly.
Harry shrugged. “Ask her yourself, then.” In actuality, he, too, was still unsure of Luci’s true feelings for him.
After a moment, Malfoy huffed in aggravation and barked, “Hurt her and I’ll kill you, Potter.” Then he stomped away.
Harry shook his head in disbelief. Luci had changed both of the boys in a way that neither of them had probably ever realized was possible.
Deciding that he would let her spend some time with her mother, Harry went to pay a visit to the Weasleys. He’d only seen them once, excepting Ron, due to the disgrace of being the cause of Charlie’s death.
When he entered Mrs. Weasley’s room, Ron stood to greet him.
“Your girl’s awake?” Fred asked him.
Harry nodded hesitantly. He didn’t want to throw his good news in the face of their own tragic news.
Ron patted him on the back as he approached. “Glad to hear it,” he said.
But Harry knew that his best friend wasn’t really glad about anything right now. Ever since they’d heard about Charlie, there had been a distance in Ron’s eyes that Harry had never seen before, and it was killing him, because Harry blamed himself.
“How’s she doing?” questioned Ginny. Harry was surprised by Neville’s presence, but he was pleased to see that Ginny was holding his hand.
“She’ll make it.”
Ginny smiled in relief, though it looked somewhat forced.
“How’s your mum?” asked Harry.
George took a deep breath. “Oughtta come out of it any minute.” He poked his mother in the ribs.
“Stop that,” Mr. Weasley upbraided him.
“Maybe it’ll help,” George shrugged.
“All right, Luci’s fine,” came Hermione’s voice. “Now will you eat something?” she pestered Harry.
“Yes, Hermione,” he answered with a grin.
“I’ll join you,” Ron chimed in.
The hospital food in the tea shop was really quite horrendous, but considering that Harry hadn’t eaten in so long, he didn’t much care. He was diving heartily into a bowl of soup.
Hermione was observing him closely.
He looked up at her. “What?”
“How are you feeling?”
Harry shrugged. He was feeling so many things that there was no possible way that he could articulate them all.
“It’s pretty mind-boggling. What happened, I mean,” Hermione went on.
Harry gave her an exasperated nod.
She continued gently, “Ron and I could listen…”
“What do you want me to say, Hermione? I’m alive, you lot are all alive, but Dumbledore and Hagrid and my parents are all still dead, and Colin and my best friend’s brother… I don’t really know how I feel, so will you stop pushing me?”
Hermione looked crushed. “I’m sorry… I just…”
“Nevermind,” grumbled Harry.
Ron consolingly took Hermione’s hand.
Harry dropped his spoon into his empty bowl with a loud pang.
“Look, I’m sorry,” he sighed, and he really was. “It’s just that people keep dying, and it’s always my fault…”
“Why didn’t she die, Harry?”
He glanced up at Hermione. Harry had refused to talk about Luci until she woke up. He wasn’t sure why, but something in him had to know that he hadn’t taken her life.
“There was so much blood. It would have killed anyone.”
Ron nodded in agreement.
Harry picked up a piece of toast and looked at the two of them.
“Malfoys are impossible to kill?” Ron suggested.
After a pause, Harry answered, “She can heal herself.”
Hermione gasped. “No! You’re joking!”
Harry shook his head.
“Wow. Regeneration. That’s really rare.”
Harry returned to his food without going into any further detail.
Ron and Hermione were quiet for a few moments.
“How’s the outlook for your mum?” asked Harry finally. “Any improvement?”
Ron looked glum. “Still don’t know. Doesn’t look good.”
“I’m sorry, mate,” Harry said. He dropped his toast. “Ever since we became friends, I’ve been nothing but trouble to you. Everyone in my life gets hurt. I should… become a recluse or something!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Harry!” reprimanded Hermione.
“It’s true; if neither of you had ever met me, you’d both be happy and safe and… your lives would be intact.”
“We all showed up, of our own free will, to help you,” Ron pointed out. “And you’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Harry.” Then, as if to change the subject, he asked, “So have you told Luci how you feel yet?”
Harry had been trying to avoid this topic, thinking that Ron was probably still mad at him for breaking Ginny’s heart. Though Ginny had obviously moved on.
“Yeah,” replied Harry, hoping he could leave it at that.
“And?”
“And… Well, I’m not really sure what’s going on, actually.”
He told Ron and Hermione about the last night at Grimmauld Place and about Luci’s confession during the battle, then about her recent refusal to give him any chance whatsoever.
“But I’m not giving up on her,” he concluded.
“You shouldn’t, Harry. She’s just scared; she’ll come ’round,” encouraged Hermione.
Harry frowned. “I thought you two hated me because I was hurting Ginny.”
Ron shrugged. “She seems to be fine. Fancies Neville now. Odd pairing, but he’s a good guy. And we could never hate you, you dolt.”
“We always liked Luci, Harry. We just wanted Ginny to be happy and we didn’t want you to get hurt. And we thought Luci was too old for you.” Hermione smiled apologetically.
“Krum,” Harry said simply.
“Yes, all right,” snapped Hermione.
“Krum who?” said Ron. “I know nothing of this Krum.”
Harry grinned.
Then he remembered something.
“Hermione, what did you do to my scar?”
She beamed. “Oh, in our fifth year, when you were having all of the pain, I did some research, looking for a spell to alleviate it. Lucky I remembered it!”
“What don’t you remember?” Ron cooed in admiration.
“Wow, Hermione“” Harry started.
“Ron’s idea,” she cut him off. “I just did the finding.”
Harry turned to Ron and stammered, “Thanks, mate.”
Ron shrugged.
“So, Hermione, any idea how to get Sirius out of that veil?”
“No,” she sighed. “I need to do some research, probably in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library, if I were to guess, but Hogwarts is closed, obviously.”
“But we have access to a Professor’s Pass,” Harry reminded her.
Her eyes widened. “Oh, yes, of course! Do you think Luci would let us borrow it again?”
“I think Luci would give Harry anything he wanted,” smiled Ron.
Harry blushed, but he hoped that Ron was right, because she certainly hadn’t given him what he wanted… yet.
“So,” Harry said as he walked over to her bedside later that night and sat himself in the chair. “Have you come to your senses yet?”
“Have you come to yours?”
“I don’t need to come to mine.”
“Neither do I,” said Luci, and she sat up against the headboard, laying a book aside. She folded her arms over her chest defiantly.
“Do you expect me to believe that you don’t want this? You kissed me back “ twice!” Harry was losing patience.
“Well, how could I not? There’s this unbelievable current that ignites between us every time we touch.”
“I know; I feel it too, so why are you throwing it away?”
She exhaled slowly. “I’m not… throwing it away. It’s just… a little back and forth lately.”
He furrowed his brow.
“I’m fighting with myself,” she explained.
“I fought with myself too. But I’m done with it. So why don’t you stop, as well, and we can get to the good part?” He grinned at this last bit.
She clenched her jaw. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?” he exclaimed, the smile sliding from his lips.
“I’m afraid, Harry!”
“Of what?”
“Of… you finding out how hard it is to be with me and… you leave… and we both get hurt.”
All of a sudden, Harry understood.
“I’m not your father.”
Luci blinked.
“Just because he left doesn’t mean that everyone else will too.”
Then, without any warning, she began to cry, placing her hands over her face, clearly uncomfortable. Harry was surprised when this didn’t make him uncomfortable at all.
“Eventually, you start to think that he didn’t want you, so why would anyone else?” she sobbed.
“But it’s not true, Luci.”
“I know that, logically, but… A part of me will always be broken, and you deserve more than that.”
Harry frowned. “You think I’m not broken?”
“It’s… different.”
“Yeah, it’s worse for me.”
Luci dropped her hands and stared at him, her eyes pink and tearful. He’d said the wrong thing.
He opened his mouth to apologize, but she said, “No, you’re right. But Harry, I’ve done so much damage. I’ve pushed you away and I’ve lied and half-lied and hurt you and I just don’t see how you could possibly have any feelings for me. How can you trust me? How can you even stand the sight of me?” She was still avoiding his gaze, instead wiping her tears with the bed sheet.
He sighed exaggeratedly. “You always had good intentions. That’s how I can trust you. And you only tried to push me away; it never worked.”
“Apparently not,” she agreed, a smile slowly forming in her features.
Harry grinned back. “Look, I may be broken, but you make me feel like I can keep going anyway. And I forgive you. For all of it. I understand why you did most of those things.”
Luci’s eyes widened. “Wow, Harry, I… Most of them?”
“You pretended for ages that you didn’t give a damn about me. I put myself out there, and you threw it back in my face.”
“Mmm.” She nodded shamefully. “I shouldn’t have. But it was all I could think to do at the time. It was… a lot of things… my pride, my fear. Trying to protect you from… me. And I didn’t want to care about you, because I thought that you belonged to Ginny, and because I knew you’d distract me from taking care of my brother, and“”
“Wait, why did you think that I belonged to Ginny?”
She tilted her head to one side. “She staked her claim on you pretty unmistakably.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“She threw one of those flying ball thingies at me!”
“She didn’t do that!” scoffed Harry.
Luci smiled softly. “Don’t hold it against her. Any other girl would have done the same thing, and I don’t blame her one bit.”
Harry sat back in his chair, astounded.
“It’s totally understandable. She loves you and she“”
“Stop,” he cut her off again. “Don’t worry about Ginny. She’s seeing Neville now, so there’s nothing in the way of us being together except you.”
Something in Luci’s face told him that she was glad of this news, but she still countered, “And the fact that we’re wrong for one another.”
“What?”
“It’s true. You and my brother hate each other, we’re from entirely different countries and backgrounds, and… and…” She seemed to be trying to come up with more reasons, her voice throaty from talking too much too soon. “And I’m too old for you!”
There was a headache forming vengefully in the hollows at Harry’s temples, but he plowed on.
“That’s rubbish, and you know it!” he roared, flying from his chair. “We’re loads alike! We’re both full of guilt and self-doubt, and we’re… driven by love! I understand you, even if you think that I don’t, and you understand me in a way that no one else ever has before! When I’m angry or uncertain or whatever, you always say the right thing; it’s like you can see right into me! So you keep spouting off this stuff, but you’re just doing it to convince me to leave you alone, and it’s not gonna work, Luci, because I love you!”
Her mouth fell open, as though she’d never encountered the concept before, and her hand went instantly to her stomach.
“I thought…” She frowned and shook her head. “I thought Voldemort was just screwing with me. Do you… do you really?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He was blushing furiously, half from disbelief that he’d spouted those words and half from infuriation at her. He’d never said anything so sappy to anyone and her response wasn’t exactly what he would have hoped for.
She lapsed sullenly into silence, the exchange criminally lingering in the atmosphere. He was pacing edgily at the end of her bed.
Finally, she said, “Sometimes, your head has to rule your heart. And my reasons are all valid.” But her voice was faint, as though she was running out of conviction.
“I don’t care about any of that!” Harry seethed. Then he growled morosely from the tension. “We can get past all of it! I’ve gotten past much worse, believe me!”
“You know, you can be surprisingly romantic when you want to be. You’re kind of making my head spin.” They were words that should have been accompanied by a jovial tone, but she sounded despondent.
“You think my head’s not spinning?” he retorted. “This is the strangest conversation I’ve ever had!”
Luci tucked a strand of silver-blonde hair behind her left ear. “Meaning?”
She was so unruffled and resolved, and he felt anything but, which incensed him even more so.
“All I know is that I want to be with you and you’re making it so bloody hard, and it doesn’t have to be! We’d be brilliant together! Just… just let me in!”
“You really aren’t gonna give up, are you?” she grinned, the smile slipping into her eyes.
His irritation eased, but only slightly. “Not a chance.”
“Luci Jordana Keegan!”
They both turned to see Luci’s mother marching into the room.
“Not now, Mama,” Luci sighed, giving Harry an apologetic glance.
“Harry, can I have a moment with my daughter, please?”
“I’ll wait. We’re not finished.” He gave Luci a significant glance and left the room.
He stood outside the door for a short while, trying to quell the frustration he felt at Luci’s reaction. She’d admitted how she felt about him, so why didn’t she want a relationship with him? Was she really going to let her fears and insecurities ruin both of their chances at happiness? Neither of them had lived easy lives, and as far as Harry was concerned, they deserved to be together, to make it better for each other.
Melissa Keegan’s head appeared around the corner, and the woman looked very satisfied with herself.
“She’s all yours, Harry.”
“All right, Luci,” he started, as soon as he got back into the room. “I don’t have the energy to keep this up, but I can’t, in good conscience, give up on us just because you’re scared. So I’ll go round with you again later, but I’m not letting this go. We belong together and you know it.”
He turned to leave the room.
“Harry, wait!”
He faced her again.
“Come here.”
Harry marched wearily to the chair next to the bed and sat down.
“No, no, come here,” Luci said again, scooting over in the small bed and patting the space next to her.
Butterflies instantly took flight in his stomach, but he moved to the bed anyway.
She smiled and grasped his hands. “I hope this is OK. I wanna be near you.”
He swallowed, answering, “Me too.”
“Listen…” she started, in a subdued manner that stripped him of his defenses. “You’re right, Harry, I can’t keep living in fear. Or not living, as it were. Forgive me for trying to get rid of you. I was just getting to the point in my life where I was learning to accept that I’ll never be the girl whose dreams come true. And now you’re shaking my foundation, do you see? I’m not used to good things and I keep thinking it’s all going to be ripped out from under me, and that maybe losing you would hurt more than never having you at all.”
Harry opened his mouth to comment, but she shook her head and carried on.
“When I met you, something… shifted… inside of me.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I don’t know, it was just passion and desire and… admiration, because you… you’re… phenomenal, but… all of it terrified me, because I was hiding so much from you, and I just knew that there was no hope for anything between us, and because I am afraid of being abandoned.”
Luci sighed and turned her eyes down to their two pairs of hands, still clutching at one another. “But I’m not going to let the past keep me from having a future with you.”
“Well, good, because I’m not going anywhere,” Harry heard himself say, though he was still soaking it all in. “I just… I want us to be together.”
“Really?” she beamed. “Even with… all of this?”
He nodded.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I’m never going to be easy to deal with.”
Harry grinned. “I don’t care. I’m not the easiest person to go out with either, you know.”
She ran her tongue over her lips and then sighed. “OK, then.”
“OK, what?”
“If you want me, I’m yours.”
A wave of heat crashed within him. “I do want you. Badly, actually.”
Luci took a breath, scrunched her nose up playfully, and then pressed her mouth to his.
Harry felt everything around him move, and he put a hand on the bed to steady himself. Vibrations coursed through his body, dizzying him. She ran her palm along his wrist, up to his elbow, back down again, and sparks followed her fingertips as his skin reacted to her touch. She pulled away, and it hadn’t lasted long enough.
Her eyes were glittering, and she inhaled deeply. “Sorry.”
His blood still rushing, all he could manage was, “No.”
Luci raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, don’t be sorry.”
“Oh,” she smiled.
Their kiss had ignited the air with a breathless silence, and they could both only look at one another for a few moments, their faces merely inches apart.
Finally, Luci breathed, “Thank you.”
Harry shook his head wordlessly.
“For putting up with me,” she clarified. “I know that I’m… a handful, and I’m so sorry for… making you put up such a fight.”
He grinned. “Oh, god, it was all worth it, believe me.”
Luci laughed and his heart gave a resounding thump.
“So we’re gonna do this then?”
Harry nodded. “If you’re up for it.”
“Oh, yes,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “But Draco’s not going to like this.”
“Fantastic,” beamed Harry, “that’s the best part!”
In response to her spurious wounded expression, he went on, “I’m joking, but it’s definitely a bonus.”
Luci rolled her eyes at him. “You two are going to drive me crazy, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “I thought I already did?”
“Well, yes, obviously.”
Harry frowned, remembering something. “So I have a question.”
“Oh,” she responded, visibly thrown. “OK, shoot.”
“In the Ministry, when you pulled that Death Eater off of me… you were so mad that I didn’t recognize you.”
Luci bit her lip. “I told you that I know about anger. I understand you so well because I am torrentially angry too. In that room, I just… lost control… It was like… He was hurting you and I had to make him pay. Things just sort of went black and next thing I know, you were shaking me.”
“But it was illegal magic. Won’t you lose your license?”
“Probably. Haven’t heard from them yet but I’m expecting the worst, especially when they find out that I’ve been seducing a Hogwarts student.”
She was grinning, but Harry sighed, “I’m sorry I got you into this.”
Shaking her head adamantly, Luci replied, “Hey, I’m glad to be in this with you. And I’m the one who performed that spell, and I’d do it again. If anyone comes near you, I won’t hesitate. Ever. I will do anything to protect my own. You, my mother, Draco, my friends. That’s why I’m an Auror. Or maybe used to be an Auror. But when it comes right down to it, I’m pretty damn fierce. I’d kill for you, and I wouldn’t have any regrets.”
His mouth agape, he just blinked at her.
“See, that’s where we’re different,” she said. “You don’t think you’re capable of killing, and I know that I am. It takes something… that I can’t describe, I guess. But even if you don’t have it, you won’t need it now, right? Let someone else take care of Voldemort.”
Harry felt his shoulders sag at the reminder of the task ahead of him. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”
“Oy, the secrets!” she joked.
“Seriously.”
“OK?”
“I have to kill Voldemort,” he sighed.
“Why?” questioned Luci. “I don’t understand why it has to be you. Just because he marked you all those years ago doesn’t mean“”
“The prophecy,” Harry interrupted. “There’s a second part that isn’t general knowledge. It says ‘either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.’ I am the one he marked, so either I kill him or he kills me. No one else can take my place.”
Luci’s eyes were wide with fear. “But… it’s just a silly prophecy, right? It doesn’t have to happen that way.”
He shook his head and squeezed her hands. “It didn’t have to, but Voldemort set everything into motion, and now I have no choice but to play my part in it.”
She was pressing her lips together, as if trying to contain herself. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“I had no idea that you’d ever need to be told,” he answered.
“So you work this hard to get me to give in to you and then you tell me that you’re going on a suicide mission?” she barked, ripping her hands away from his.
“So you think it’s a suicide mission?” countered Harry.
Luci put her hands to her temples. “No, I didn’t mean that. I know you can defeat him, Harry, but… When are you going?”
“I’m not sure. I was waiting for you to wake up, so I guess I can go anytime now.”
“Alone?” she choked.
He nodded. “Too many people have suffered. I need to face him on my own.”
She took a shallow breath and looked away from him.
Harry took this opportunity to steer the conversation. “The old man with the sword. Who was he?”
Turning her eyes back to him, Luci answered slowly, as though she knew what he was up to but was going along with it anyway, “A Death Eater who had been waiting a long time to betray Voldemort. His name is Craig Cambias.”
Where had Harry heard that name before? That’s right “ in the Pensieve!
“So you were in on it? Snape destroying the last Horcrux?”
Nodding, she replied, “Sort of. I knew that Severus and Craig both wanted Voldemort dead, so when I saw the sword, I went over to offer assistance, basically. I wanted it over and done. So Craig asked me to duel with him as a cover while Severus took care of the snake.”
Harry was clenching his teeth. “How did Snape know about the Horcruxes?”
“Craig knew about them. Somehow. So when the two of them figured out that they were both on the same side, it all kind of worked itself out. Severus mentioned them to me, and you had told me about the snake, and I knew that he had access to it, so…”
“So you told Snape everything that I told you in confidence?”
“Not everything. Just enough to help,” she said meekly, as though she thought he might fly off the handle.
He sighed. “Is this always your method of doing the right thing?”
Luci closed her eyes. “I’m afraid I may continually disappoint you.”
“I’m not disappointed,” responded Harry. “But in the future, could you just run these things by me? You didn’t let me in on any of it, and it would have all been helpful to know.”
She shook her head. “You were determined to hate Severus. I would have never been able to convince you that he was working with us.”
“All right, good point. But in the future?”
“I won’t be keeping anything from you ever again. I’ve learned my lesson.”
He smiled, and in a sort of relief, she yawned.
“After four days of sleeping, you’re still tired?” he teased her.
“Well, someone cut me into pieces,” she hurled back.
He frowned. “Still sorry about that.”
“Still not,” replied Luci.
“Hey, where’s the Professor’s Pass?”
“On the floor in my room at your place. I was so… shattered after that soul-shaking kiss, I just left everything where I’d dropped it. Why?”
“Hermione needs to go to Hogwarts for some research,” answered Harry, noticing a frisson in his chest at her use of the word “soul-shaking.”
“Well, Severus won’t be needing it back, so it’s yours if you want it.”
“It was Snape’s?”
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “See, he wasn’t such a bad guy. What’s Hermione researching?”
“That veil in the Department of Mysteries - the Veil of Voices, apparently - we need to find out how to get Sirius out of it.”
“Yikes,” groaned Luci. “Sounds like mission impossible, but the three of you seem to find your way around and through anything, so I’m sure you’ll do exactly that.”
He rose from the bed and retorted teasingly, “I have been known to get what I want.”
“Don’t push your luck,” she said with a smile, and then it vanished instantly and she went on, “And please don’t go after Voldemort without telling me first.”
“I won’t.”
“Hey, where have you been sleeping?” she asked all of the sudden.
Harry pointed to the chair.
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Wow, Harry, it really is obvious.”
He laughed. “Yeah, well.”
“So where shall you sleep tonight?” inquired Luci.
He came back with, “No time for that. We’re going to be up all night at Hogwarts.”
“You and Ron and Hermione?”
“Yes, but you rest, and I’ll be right back in my chair tomorrow.”
“You’d better be.”
At this, he leaned down and kissed her softly, and that current came to life once again, tossing his awareness into oblivion. He didn’t want to sever it, but when he did, he breathed, “I will be.”