“How dare Albus let you grow up like that!  Foolish old man!  If he had but asked Severus, he would have known not to trust my sister with anything!”

“He couldn’t ask him,” said Harry quickly, trying to cool his mother’s ire – which was proving that he didn’t get his temper just from his father.  “Da was in Azkaban.”

“What?  What was he doing in Azkaban?”

“He got caught.  Aurors got him during a raid that was meant to capture Lucius Malfoy.”

“The same raid Tany was killed in,” whispered Lily.  “She never said he was taken to Azkaban, just the he was captured.”

“Well she was dead before then, wasn’t she?”  Harry winced as the words came out rather harshly and mumbled, “Sorry.”

Lily smiled gently and reached out to caress his cheek, her thumb rubbing against his somewhat pronounced cheekbones.

“Its okay.  You’ve got a mix of our temper’s I see.  And your father’s cheekbones.”

“And his hair, height, build…”

“My nose thankfully…”

“Your eyes…”

“His face, my jaw…”

“So,” said Harry with a smirk, “a thorough mix of you both?”

“A thorough mix indeed,” agreed Lily.  “And his smirk.”  She shook her head and continued, “Now I know why I never had the heart to cast a charm on you to make you look like Jamie.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re too handsome to change your looks.  Though you should grow your hair out.  Short hair never looked good on Sev and it doesn’t look quite right on you.”

“You should have seen it on the streets,” said Harry with a wry grin.

“Tell me about them.  Did you have anyone to take care of you?”

Harry nodded and began to tell his mother everything about that time.  He told her about Abram, who had found him in a cold alley.  About Evan and Lyla, who had been like surrogate parents before their deaths.  About Tyls, who had been like a brother.  Cal and Leo, the twins who had at once been defender and attacker.  He told her about them all, all the children that Argil had taken in to fill his pockets with stolen cash.  He told her of Cal, Leo, and Nyv’s murders by Argil.  Of Abram’s drunken tendencies.  Everything.

Lily’s fist stayed clenched during the whole of his telling and he paused just before he told of his meeting Mrs. Weasley in the Leaky Cauldron.  He reached out and laid his hand over hers, squeezing gently.

“Mum?”

Lily looked up at him and whispered, “I’m so sorry.  You shouldn’t have had to grow up like that.”

“And Da shouldn’t have been forced into being a Death Eater.  We can’t change the past, Mum.  I’m not even sure I would if I could.”

“Harry…” began Lily.

“No,” said Harry sternly, eyes shining.  “I wouldn’t.  Even if we could have lived together, had been a real family, I wouldn’t.  What I learned on the streets has saved me and my friends too often.  If I hadn’t learned what I did, I might not have been able to have done what I’ve done.”

Lily nodded at his confession, tears in her eyes.  She understood what he was saying.

“Tell me about your friends,” she said suddenly.  “What are they like?  What House are they in?”  She frowned and added, “What House are you in, for that matter?  Is there a girl?”

“Slow down, Mum!” exclaimed Harry, laughing.  “I’ll get to them.”

“Start back where you left off then.  You found the Cauldron…”

“And then Mrs. Weasley found me.”

“Now after that…”

“I’m getting there, Mum, I’m getting there.”

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

“Hey, mate,” whispered Niamh to the still body on the hospital bed as she sank down into a chair.  “I ought to kill you for that Christmas present.  You ruddy bastard.”  She laughed and added, “Or maybe I should kiss you!  Harry, mate, you are full of surprises.”

Harry’s still form didn’t move and Niamh smiled, leaning on the edge of the bed.

“Somehow I keep expecting you to reply.  I know your not here but…I don’t know, I expect you to be here.”  She sighed and reached out to clench his unresponsive fingers in her own.

“You had better come back,” she hissed savagely.  “I hope some part of you can hear me, Harry.  ‘Cause if you don’t come back…well, I’ll just have to figure out a way to bring you back, won’t I?  I am a telepath after all.  I’m sure with a little practice and Jar’s help I could pry you back into consciousness.”  She shrugged and added softly, “It might take a few years but I’m certain I could do it…”

“Who?”

“Huh?”

Niamh blinked and stared at the owl sitting on the end of the bed.  A letter was tied to its leg and it was blinking at her.

“Hey there, you.  Who’s the letter for?”

“T’who?” replied the owl, tilting its head to the side.

Niamh sighed and muttered, “Now I’m expecting owl’s to talk to me.  Too much time around Jar.  C’mere little bird…”

“Who,” said the owl and hopped away from her.

“Hey!  Give me the letter, little owl.  Is it for Harry?”

“Who!  Who!” cried the owl, flapping its wings.

“Okay, okay,” said Niamh.  “Calm down.  Will you let me have the letter?  I’m a friend of Harry’s.”

The owl looked at her skeptically for a moment then held out its leg.  Niamh pumped her fist in the air in success then reached out to untie the letter.  She pulled a slightly dry piece of bread from her pocket and said, “Um, this is from breakfast.  It’s all I’ve got…”

“Who?” said the owl, eying the piece of bread hungrily.  Niamh handed it over and the owl gulped it down before it launched itself into the air, flying out of the hospital wing.

“So,” said Niamh as soon as it was gone, “let’s see who this is from, shall we?”

She unfolded the letter and flicked her eyes down to the signature.  Her eyes grew wide as she saw who if was from.

“Sirius!”

Harry,

I’m sorry I haven’t written sooner.  This is the first chance I’ve gotten.  Been busy, you know.  How has the year been so far?  Good?  How about Snape?  If he starts being a bastard, you tell me.  I’ll set him straight for you.  And attempt not to have too much bloodshed.  Promise.

I want you to know that I’m safe.  I know you were worried about me after the Tri-wizard Tournament and I wanted to assure you that I’m not in any sort of trouble.  Well, besides the trouble I’m already in from the Ministry but you know about that.

Stay safe, kid.  And try not to get into too much mischief.

Sirius

P.S. Tell Niamh and the rest ‘hello’ for me.

“Oh no,” breathed Niamh.  They had never told Sirius about Harry being in his coma!  Hell, they hadn’t told anyone.

But they should have at least told Sirius.

The dark-haired girl sighed and looked at her friend’s still form sadly.

“Looks like I’m going to have to break the news to Sirius.  This isn’t going to be pretty…”

She rose slowly from her seat and patted Harry’s hand before she left to go find some parchment and a quill.

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

Sirius,

It’s Niamh.  I got your letter that you sent to Harry.  You see…he’s somewhat out of reach at the moment.  There was an accident at the beginning of the year and well – Harry got knocked into a coma.

I’m sorry that we didn’t owl you and tell you sooner but in all our trying to keep the news away from the Daily Prophet and the Ministry, I guess we forgot.  Please don’t come back here just because of this.  Harry wouldn’t want you to risk it.  Neither would I, for that matter.

Madam Pomfrey says that Harry may wake up before the school year is through.  But we’re not sure.  We all hope that she will be right.

Harry’s safe right where he is.  So you keep with what you said in your letter and keep yourself safe.  Or else I’ll send you an owl with a hex in it.

Niamh

Niamh reread over her letter as she made her way up to the Owlery to send it off.  She just hoped Sirius would listen to her and wouldn’t be stubborn and come back from…wherever he was.

As she made her way up the last few steps, she heard something.  Pausing to listen, her jaw dropped when she realized what it was.

Parseltongue.  She had heard Harry speaking it enough to recognize it.

But…Harry was the only Parselmouth in the school.  Probably the only one in the wizarding world beside Voldemort.

So who…?

Niamh crept slowly up the rest of the steps, carefully to avoid the spots in them that creaked.  She peered into the Owlery and blinked when she saw who it was that was speaking.

“Ginny?!” she exclaimed, stepping up into the tower.

The redhead looked up with a horrified expression on her face and yelped, “Niamh!  Oh Merlin…I…”

“You were speaking Parseltongue,” said Niamh, staring at the younger girl.  “To Hedwig.”

Ginny nodded slowly, looking down at the black snake that was curled up on her knee.  “Yeah…”

“How?  I thought Harry was the only Parselmouth…”

“He was,” said Ginny softly.  “Until Tom took me over, that is.  He…he transferred a bit of himself into me.  He had to, to open the Chamber.”  She looked fearfully up at the other girl then looked away quickly.

Niamh sank down onto the floor beside the girl and said, “Gin, I’m not mad about it, if that’s what your thinking.  Its just…why didn’t you tell us before?”

“I was afraid.  You saw how everyone treated Harry after we found out he was one!  I didn’t want the same thing to happen to me.”

“Oh, Gin,” breathed Niamh.  “You know we’d have kept it a secret.”

“I wasn’t worried about you guys,” whispered Ginny, absently stroking Hedwig’s head.  “I knew you and Mik wouldn’t mind.  And Hermione wouldn’t either.”

“You were worried about Ron.”

“He’s already been against me once!  I didn’t want him to hate me again.”

Niamh smiled and said, “He didn’t hate you, Gin.  He…hell, he’s a Gryff!  You know most of them jump right on into something without asking questions.”

“Harry’s like that.”

“Harry’s got Gryff tendencies.  And he doesn’t jump into everything without asking questions.”

“Most things.”

“Okay, most things.  But your brother…you know how he is, Gin.  He jumps to conclusions too fast.  And he never hated you then.  He just…he didn’t want to see his little sister as a Slytherin.”

Ginny frowned and said, “You and Harry are Slyth’s and he didn’t mind.”

“He minded Harry in the beginning.  Harry told me so.  And we’re different.  We’re not blood relatives.  You’re his sister.  Not just some friend.  Y’get what I’m saying?”

“I think so.  But…what if he blows up on me?”

“We’ll get Mione to tell him.  Y’know she’ll knock him down quick.”

Ginny chuckled and said, “Yeah.  What’s that?”

“Letter.”

“For who?”

“Sirius.  He sent Harry a letter.”

“Oh no!  We never told him!”

“I know,” said Niamh, looking downcast.  “I feel bad about it.”

“We didn’t have time to think about him.”

“I know.  Still feel bad.”  Niamh heaved a sigh and added, “Let me send this off and we can head back down to Serpens.  Tell Mik and the rest if their down there.”

“What about Hermione?” asked Ginny.  “And Neville.  Shouldn’t we tell him too?”

“I’ve got Potions first with both of them tomorrow.  I’ll tell one and get them to inform the other one.  ‘Kay?”

“Okay.”

“Good.”  Niamh whispered something to the school owl on her arm then sent it soaring out the window.  “Let’s head down then.”