Upon returning to Hogwarts from the holiday break, I felt listless, not to mention more reserved an isolated than usual. I was still getting over the overwhelming shock of Narcissa's news. The day we came back, Theodore greeted me with more enthusiasm than I greeted him with. We found a compartment on the train and prepared to head back to Hogwarts.

"Lyra!" he said once we were settled into our seats. "You won't believe what I found!"

"What - what did you find?" I asked. My voice was dull.

"Something that might interest you. But first, is something wrong? You look upset."

"Well, it's just ... I went to the Malfoy Manor and ..."  I told him about my conversation with Narcissa. When I finished, I said, "What do you have to show me?"

"This. I snooped around my dad's files a bit and found this with a bunch of other old newspapers." He handed me an old copy of the Daily Prophet. It was faded and torn, but the words were still legible. "I thought it might help you with your ... search, or whatever you're calling it."

Curious, I unfolded the paper. The date at the top went back to fifteen years previously. On the front page in huge letters was the headline:

FOUR MORE BEHIND BARS

Death Eaters Imprisoned for Torture of Aurors

"You found this?" I exclaimed, half in disbelief, half in spontaneous pleasure. "I can't believe it!"

"Go ahead and read it. It will probably answer some of your questions."

"But this here ... this will give me the whole story! It will tell me all about the arrest and everything ... " Unfolding the paper better so I could see the whole article, I read:

Yesterday Aurors captured four Death Eaters for torturing Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom at their manor in London after wizards in nearby households reported hearing spell violence.

The Death Eaters, now in Azkaban, are Barty Crouch, Jr., Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Rabastan Lestrange.

"We did what was necessary. Everything was for the Dark Lord," Crouch said.

The Longbottoms appeared to have something the Death Eaters wanted. They targeted the Aurors and used the Cruciatus Curse on them to get answers, but the Longbottoms wouldn't give anything away.

"My son and his wife have always been fighters, and I knew they would fight until the very end if it came to it," Augusta Longbottom, mother of Frank Longbottom, said.

The Longbottoms are now at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. It appears they will not recover from such intense torture.

"Curses such as these have no cure. Wizards have tried to find one for centuries, but Dark Magic is among the most powerful forces in the world. There may never be a way to reverse it with magical medicine," St. Mungo's Healer Victoria Heming said.

I put the paper down before finishing the article and said, "This tells what I already know. I guess there wasn't anything else to it."

"Have you finished the whole thing? Red the rest," Theodore said gently. "There's a bit more at the end. It might interest you."

So I read on:

Upon arrival at Azkaban prison, Bellatrix Lestrange claimed she couldn't go to prison because she had to care for her daughter, ‘Lyra.' Aurors diagnosed her as hysterical but will proceed to check Ministry records in search of truth. If the Lestranges' have a daughter, living arrangements will be made.

I folded the paper up and stared at the ground. Of course - it was like I had never been born. This article had shown me nothing but what I already knew.

"It's not like that anymore, though," Theodore said. "Everyone knows you exist."

"But it took them fifteen stupid years to realize it. You know what? I'm tired of this. Every time I find out something new, it leads to more questions. Now I want to know how the Ministry set my life up-or ruined it, more like. Why can't things be simple?"

"Because the world isn't simple," he said. "And it's as simple as that."

That night, I had a dream. First I saw the three Black sisters in that photo Andromeda had. Then Andromeda was wiped from the picture and it was just Narcissa and Bellatrix, but they were older and were discussing something. Then everything went black and Bellatrix was thrown into a prison cell, screaming. She was yelling something unintelligible, but then I saw Narcissa and she seemed to understand the words. She shook her head and faded away, and I saw a tiny infant crying in a crib, alone ...

I wanted to see Narcissa again, because there were more things I wanted to know.

"I told you I didn't want to talk about this again."

"I just thought I could give you some advice on how to improve for next time."

"I gave up. I can't do it."

I threw down my wand in frustration; it clattered on the dungeon floor and rolled away.

"You essentially just have to remember the three D's. That's all there is to it - "

"I told you, it won't work! I've already Splinched myself seven times and it was painful! Isn't that enough?"

Theodore's arms wrapped around my waist as he said, "Fine, then; wait until the next practice. Here's your wand."

"You see this? Right here I Splinched my finger, and now I can't bend it." I motioned to my index finger on my right hand. "It's making wand work as difficult as ever. And this here - this is where I nearly severed my foot from my leg. Oh, and don't forget the giant burn on my arm - that's not from Splinching, but when the charm I was casting went wrong because I couldn't hold my wand correctly due to Splinching!"

I was on the verge of bursting from frustration. I wouldn't be using any illegal curses this time. Besides, if I tried, I would probably blow my head off because I couldn't hold my wand correctly.

"It takes practice."

"Easy for you to say! You didn't tear yourself up yesterday!"

The day before, a Ministry wizard had come to teach the sixth years how to Apparate. Though I couldn't officially take the test until May, we were allowed to take the twelve-week course for a fee. So far I had paid twelve Galleons to get injured.

I was with Theodore in the dungeons. We had been practicing nonverbal spells for Defense Against the Dark Arts but ended up discussing Apparition when I messed up my spell again due to the inability to hold my wand.

"Listen, Lyra, stop worrying about Apparition!"

"Why can't I do it? I'm the only one who Splinched this much! You don't realize how humiliating this is? I can perform a Cruciatus Curse but when it comes to Apparating I fail! I don't want to practice ever again if it's going to cost me all of my fingers!"

"All right, all right!" I could tell he was growing annoyed with my complaints and frustration. "Just ... calm down. If you need to take some potion for the Splinching, go see Madam Pomfrey again."

Sitting down against the wall, I said, "No, I'll be fine." I sighed. "I wish I could get out of the castle for a bit. Too bad we can't go to Hogsmeade."

He sat down next to me and said, "Something else is bothering you, isn't it?"

"Well, yes. I'd like to go back to Narcissa's. There are other things I want to ask her, but it's not really possible now."

"About what?" he asked.

"About the arrest, mainly. I've been having all sorts of nightmares ever since I read that article."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to affect you like this."

"That's all ri - what was that?" I stopped speaking because I heard something. It sounded like an object rattling in a wardrobe or cabinet. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah. I think it's coming from over there," he said, pointing into a run-down room that nobody ever went into. "Should we check it out?"

"Why not?" I asked, standing up and heading in the direction of the noise. It sounded again.

"Sounds like a boggart," Theodore said. "There's a cabinet over there. It probably moved in since nobody ever comes here. We could exterminate it."

"Yeah, we should. I'll do it."

He shrugged and allowed me to step slower to the cabinet. Holding my wand as best as I could with my injured finger, I opened flicked it and opened the cabinet door. At least I could do that simple spell. I waited curiously for the boggart to come out. Last time I had faced a boggart was in my third year with Professor Lupin, and back then it had been a general Death Eater, which, when it appeared, was just a person in a black hooded cloak. But now that times had changed dramatically, I had a feeling my boggart would be different.

I was right. Several green snakes - bright, emerald green snakes - slithered out of the cabinet and came toward me. I was paralyzed with fear to the point that I couldn't remember the incantation to defeat a boggart. My nightmare had come true in that moment.

The snakes came toward me and slithered around my ankles. I lost my balance and fell over. Then the largest, most unnaturally gruesome snake glided over my legs. I began to hyperventilate, remembering how this dream ended ...

"Riddikulus!"

With a crack, the snakes turned into multicolored strings and limply fell off of me. A second later, Theodore was at my side. He pulled me up and held me close, trying to calm my trembling and gasping.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax, but it was difficult. I had been under the impression that those snakes only existed in my nightmares. I still had no idea what they were, but I lost it every time I saw them.

"That was your dream, wasn't it?" Theodore whispered.

I nodded, still quivering, almost in tears.

"I had ... no idea ... " My voice was dry, but I continued to speak. "Those snakes ... I don't know what they are, but that's what my boggart has become."

"It's all right. They're gone."

My breathing was back to normal, but I was still shaking. He pulled me close. We stood there for minutes until I had completely calmed down.

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" he asked. "I think you need to see Madam Pomfrey."

"No, I don't."

"She may be able to help."

"I'm recovered. I don't think she can do anything to change my greatest fear. I'd rather not have to explain the boggart to her. I don't even know what it means myself."

"She could help you figure it out."

"She's a nurse, not a psychologist."

He laughed. "You can be really stubborn."

"Stubborn, eh?" I loosened myself from his grip. "That's what you think?"

He smiled good-humoredly with a smirking gleam in his eye. "Yeah, that's what I think."

I spun around on the spot and threw my hands in the air. "See, totally recovered." Then I fixed him with a serious stare. "You don't have to worry about me. Really."

I came closer again. "Please understand that."

"All right, I understand. You've recovered."

"Good. It was just a boggart, anyway. It wasn't going to kill me. I'm sorry I'm so utterly incapable of defeating such an easy enemy."

"I wouldn't call your worst fear an easy enemy."

"But the spell is simple - "

"Lyra." He laughed. "It's okay. And before I could try to defend or justify myself once more, I was cut off when he put his mouth to mine. I knew then - before then, really - that I didn't have to prove anything to him. But he always seemed so together, so collected, whereas I was a mess.

I let it go, however, as I kissed him back, realizing that we were in a dungeon where nobody was bound to find us. Snogging around the school in public view didn't suit us. Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown had killed that trend. But sneaking out at night was always difficult, what with the potential of getting caught and the hours of sleep it deprived us of. The dungeon, while not as romantic as the lakeside at night, at least allowed us to stay out of trouble or public eye.

... Or not.

"I may vomit."

We broke apart. There was Snape, standing right in the doorway. Right then, I forgot all about the boggart and was filled to the top with rage. I blushed heavily, but nobody could see due to the darkness of the room. Why did Snape, of all people, have to find us like this?

"Mr. Nott ... Miss Lestrange ... may I ask what you two are doing in this abandoned room?"

"We found a boggart, sir," Theodore answered calmly, plainly pretending Snape hadn't seen anything. But despite the dim lighting of the room, I could see him turning red. Whether it was from anger of embarrassment (or a mixture of both) I didn't know.

"A boggart?" Snape asked curiously. "And you decided to get rid of it yourself instead of asking for a teacher?"

"Yes, sir. Lyra attacked it, but ... " He stopped, not wanting to expose my weakness. "You see those strings? Those were the snakes that made up her boggart. I cast the charm on them to destroy them."

"But Mr. Nott, don't you realize that it would have made more sense to ask a teacher for help?"

"But Professor, we know how to fight boggarts," he said somewhat defensively. His grip tightened; he was still holding onto me.

"Nevertheless," Snape said, "When I came in here, I saw something quite different. On a day as fine as this, why are the two of you in the gloomy dungeons when you could be outside on the lakeshore? Something tells me you could be up to something."

"We weren't up to anything; we just wanted some privacy!" Theodore said, being extremely protective now. "What's wrong with that? The grounds are crowded today."

"Detention, Mr. Nott. There's no need to talk like that with me, as Miss Lestrange knows very well. Actually, make it two detentions. My office, tonight. Both of you."

"What did she do?" Theodore argued.

"Mr. Nott, do not use that tone! The two of you exterminated that boggart instead of getting help; therefore you will both serve detention!"

"But ... "

"Don't argue with him," I said quietly. "You'll only get us into more trouble."