Harry practically ran up the stairs to the Owlery after dinner, causing several owls to take off from their perches.  For a fleeting moment he wished Hedwig was still alive.

< Harry? >

Harry looked up and saw the pale gold eyes of his raven peering down at him from the third row of perches.

“Hey, Jar.”

< What are you doing up here? >

Harry gave a sort of crooked grin and asked, “Can’t a guy send a letter?”

< Harry, the more we are together, the closer we get.  I can sense your emotions, now, and they’re troubled.  What happened? >

Harry shook his head then snapped his eyes up to the raven as he felt a gentle probing in his mind.  He quickly closed it off, locking it up tighter than the Tower of London.

Jardin winced visibly.  He’d been caught.

“Now, apparently, as we are getting closer, you can’t search my mind as easily as you could,” spat Harry, scowling at the bird.  “So, don’t try and find out what I don’t want you to know!”

< Alright, Harry.  I won’t. >

“Good.”

Harry leaned his head back against the cold stone of the owlery and closed his eyes.  Green light flashed across his eyelids and a woman’s scream made his eyes fly open.  Despite his words to Malfoy, seeing that curse had disturbed him.

Hands shaking slightly, he reached into his bag for parchment, quill, and ink.

Sirius,

How are you?  I’m fine…pretty much.  I – I saw the curse that killed mum today.  Our new professor, Professor Moody, showed us the Unforgivables.  I keep seeing it in my mind, over and over.  And hearing her scream.

Y’know, seeing it in your mind is nothing to actually seeing it.

Ha ha.  Now this is funny.  I just met you last year and I can talk to you better than I can talk to anyone – even my Dad.  Please don’t tell him that.  Don’t gloat.  I don’t know why I can’t talk to him.  Maybe its because…oh, hell, I don’t know why.  Maybe its just easier to put words down on paper than to say them.

Hope you’re well,

Harry

Harry did not read over the letter, just rolled it up and got out another piece of paper and dipped his quill in the inkpot.

Mika,

How are you doing in the frozen north, mate?

It’s the same old things here.  Well…perhaps not.  Second day back, your dad turned Malfoy into a ferret and bouncing him around the entrance hall.  It was priceless.

Your dad had a good lesson today.  The Unforgivables.  I bet half the class already knew what they were.  Best part: Pansy fell out of her chair.  She fears spiders even more than Ron.

Anyway, just writing to say hi.  Ni and Gin say hello.  We can’t wait till you get back and the Slytherin Four is together again.  Damn, we really need a better name than that.

Harry

Oh, and why is your last name Davids if Moody is your dad?  Just curious…

Harry rolled up this letter as well then called to Jardin.  The raven fluttered down to his knee and Harry tied the letter to Sirius onto his leg.

“This one goes to Sirius and the other one goes to Mika.

< Ooo, a trip to the frozen north.  I’ve always wanted to vacation there. >

Harry shook his head at the bird and tied Mika’s letter to his leg.  Jardin nipped at his ear as Hedwig used to do then launched himself out the window.

Harry stood, staring out after him until he vanished from sight, a black speck fading into the setting sun.  Harry then, with a sigh, turned and hefted his bag onto his shoulder, heading down the stairs.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Amanda?”

Amanda whirled in her chair, blinking when she saw Harry standing behind her, clad in only black pants with a plaid shirt in one hand.  Her eyes flicked to his scarred torso and arms, taking in the silver Basilisk pendant, then up to his face.

“H – hi, Harry. A – aren’t you c – cold?

Harry blinked and looked down at himself, taking in his bare chest and feet. He then looked back up and shrugged.

“Not really.”

“O – okay.”  Amanda turned back around in her chair to face the fire.

Harry frowned at her and walked around to sit in the chair close to hers, pulling on his shirt as he did so.

“Are you okay, Amanda?”

Amanda looked up in surprise and started to nod then sighed and shook her head.

“No.  No, I’m not.”

“Was it something about Moody’s class today?” asked Harry, remembering her reaction to the Cruciatus Curse and how distraught she’d looked after the class.

Amanda nodded, eyes closed.  Then she leaned close to Harry, eyes darting about the room as if looking for some other Slytherin out of bed in the wee hours of the morning, spying on them.  She lowered her voice to a whisper now.

“Can I tell you something, Harry?  And trust you not to tell anyone else?  You’re the only one I think I could tell.  The other girls wouldn’t.”

Harry remembered Niamh shared her dorm with Amanda.

“Niamh would.”

“No.  Niamh’s never seen what I’ve seen.”  Amanda shivered and Harry laid his hand on top of hers.

“You can trust me, Amanda.  No one will ever know.  Not Ni, not Gin, no one.”

Amanda nodded, smiling at him.

“Thank you, Harry.”

“You see, my parents used to be good friend with the Longbottom’s – Neville’s parents.  They were all Aurors together.  Sometimes, my parents would leave me with them whenever they went somewhere and the Longbottom’s weren’t out with them.  Sometimes even then with the babysitter who took care of Neville.”

“It was just one such night when the Longbottom’s weren’t with them when I was four.  Sometime during the night I heard loud noises and woke up when Mrs. Longbottom, clad in her nightgown, her hair all in disarray, and her wand in her wand had rushed into the nursery.  She scooped up Neville and me and ran out.  On the landing, Mr. Longbottom was fighting a Death Eater.”

Amanda was no longer talking to Harry now – not really anyway.  She was back on that night.  Harry laced his fingers through hers, eyes locked on her face as he listened intently.

“There were four of them; one on the landing with Mr. Longbottom, two on the stairs, one more below us on the first floor.  Mrs. Longbottom shot a curse at one of the men on the stairs and he froze in place.  His companion began to immediately fire curses at us.”  A tear ran down Amanda’s cheek now.  “He fired Cruciatus at us.  Mrs. Longbottom took the curse herself, using her body to shield us.  I still remember her screams and the Death Eater’s laughter.”

“They put the curse on both of them eventually.  They though they knew where Voldemort was.  They were trying to get the information out of them.”

“They never did.  The Longbottom’s didn’t know anything, or they never told.  By the time the Death Eater’s realized this, it was too late.”

Amanda looked at Harry now and asked, “Did you know that if your put under Cruciatus long enough, you’ll go insane?”

Harry shook his head.  Again, he had never sought to know more about the Unforgivables.

“That’s what happened.  The Longbottom’s went insane.  After that, the Death Eater’s turned towards us.  That’s when the Aurors finally showed up.  They didn’t capture any of them.  They were too scared to try.  So the Death Eaters all escaped and the Longbottom’s were taken to St. Mungo’s.  They’re still there now.  I go with Neville and his grandmother sometimes to see them.”

Another tear ran down Amanda’s cheek.

“And then that idiot Lockhart came.  He said he could make us forget what had happened.  Before anyone could stop him, he’d Obliviated Neville.”

“Y’know, Neville never used to be afraid of anything.  When we were little, we used to explore everywhere.  I was the one that was always afraid.  And Neville…Neville was sort of like you, Harry.  He was always looking out for people, even at four.  And then Lockhart took that all away.  He didn’t Obliviate the memory of that night; he Obliviated everything that made Neville Neville.  They stopped him before he could do the same to me and threw him out of the Ministry.  But it was too late to undo the change.  Too damn late.”

More tears cascaded down Amanda’s cheeks and Harry felt one drop onto the back of his hand.  But he stayed.  He held onto Amanda’s hand, watching her as she cried, his heart aching for her as well as the Neville that had been lost.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

The next morning, a tawny owl delivered a message to Harry during lunch.  Niamh, as she generally did, tried to peer over his shoulder but Harry looked sharply at her and she ceased.  If he guessed right, he knew who had sent it.

And this matter was between them.

And he was right.

Harry,

Thank you for listening last night.  I – I’m glad I could tell someone.  And thank you for not thinking I’m just some silly girl who needs to get over it.

Many thanks,

Amanda

Harry put the letter in his pocket them looked down the table at Amanda.  They locked eyes for a moment and Harry smiled.  Amanda beamed at him, eyes glittering, then turned back to her friends.

“What was that about?” asked Niamh as Harry turned back to his plate and picked up his fork.

“Nothing, Ni,” replied Harry, his eyes moving to land on Neville at the Gryffindor table.

“Nothing at all.”