it was a relief to return to the noise and bustle of the main school, where they were able to distract themselves. the only downside was that draco malfoy was almost beside himself with glee at gryffindor's defeat.

he had finally taken off his bandages,and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of harry falling off his broom. draco spent much of their next potions class doing dementor imitations across the dungeon; ron finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused snape to take fifty points from gryffindor.

professor lupin was back at work. it certainly looked as though he had been ill. his old robes were hanging more loosely on him and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes; nevertheless,he smiled at the class as they took their seats, and they burst at once into an explosion of complaints about snape's behavior while lupin had been ill.

after, they had a very enjoyable lesson. professor lupin had brought along a glass box containing a hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke,rather frail and harmless looking.

when the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door, harry and elara among them, but —

"harry and elara, wait a moment," lupin called. "i'd like a word."

they doubled back and watched professor lupin covering the hinkypunk's box with a cloth. "i heard about the match," said lupin, turning back to his desk and starting to pile books into his briefcase, "and i'm sorry about your broomstick, harry. is there any chance of fixing it?"

"no," said harry. "the tree smashed it to bits."

lupin sighed.

"they planted the whomping willow the same year that i arrived at hogwarts. people used to play a game, trying to get near enough to touch the trunk. in the end, a boy called davey gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it. no broomstick would have a chance."

"did you hear about the dementors too?" asked elara.

lupin looked at her quickly.

"yes, i did. i don't think any of us have seen professor dumbledore that angry. they have been growing restless for some time... furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds... i suppose they were the reason you two fell?"

"yes," said elara. she hesitated, and then the questions she had to ask burst from her before she could stop herself. "why? why do they affect us like that?"

"it has nothing to do with weakness," said professor lupin sharply, as though he had read their minds. "the dementors affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in your past that the others don't have, harry. though, i'm not entirely sure of the horrors in yours, elara."

"my mum is bellatrix lestrange. i don't want to imagine." elara said wryly.

a ray of wintry sunlight fell across the classroom, illuminating lupin's gray hairs and the lines on his young face.

"dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. they infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. even muggles feel their presence, though they can't see them. get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. if it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself — soul-less and evil. you'll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. and the worst that happened to you two is enough to make anyone pass out. you have nothing to feel ashamed of."

"when they get near me —" harry stared at lupin's desk, his throat tight. "i can hear voldemort murdering my mum."

"i heard a man and a woman pleading with another woman who started screaming the word 'crucio'."

lupin blanched. there was a moment's silence, then --

"why did they have to come to the match?" said harry bitterly.

"they're getting hungry," said lupin coolly, shutting his briefcase with a snap. "dumbledore won't let them into the school, so their supply of human prey has dried up... i don't think they could resist the large crowd around the quidditch field. all that excitement... emotions running high... it was their idea of a feast."

"azkaban must be terrible," harry muttered. lupin nodded grimly.

"it's a fortress set on a tiny island, way out to sea, but they don't need walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they're all trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheery thought. most of them go mad within weeks." after a beat of silence, elara added, "aunt cissa wanted me to visit mum, but i said no."

"but sirius black escaped from them," harry said slowly. "he got away..."

lupin's briefcase slipped from the desk; he had to stoop quickly to catch it.

"yes," he said, straightening up, "black must have found a way to fight them. i wouldn't have believed it possible... dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with them too long..."

"you made that dementor on the train back off," said harry suddenly.

"there are — certain defenses one can use," said lupin. "but there was only one dementor on the train. the more there are, the more difficult it becomes to resist."

"what defenses?" said elara at once. "can you teach us?"

"i don't pretend to be an expert at fighting dementors, elara — quite the contrary..."

"but if the dementors come to another quidditch match, harry'll need to be able to fight them —"

"well not just me, you too, lara." harry cut in, side-eyeing her.

lupin looked into their determined faces, hesitated, then said, "well... all right. i'll try andhelp. but it'll have to wait until next term, i'm afraid. i have a lot to do before the holidays. i chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill."

two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. inside the castle, there was a buzz of christmas in the air. professor flitwick, the charms teacher, had already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. the students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays.

elara decided to remain at hogwarts now that she actually had friends. harry, hermoine, and ron were all staying and elara had never experienced a hogwarts christmas. aunt meda was reluctant, but obliged when elara wrote her about her newfound relationships.

on the last weekend of term, there was a hogsmeade trip. elara was ecstatic. she was glad to get her christmas shopping done.

the saturday morning of the hogsmeade trip, elara bid good-bye to harry along with ron and hermoine, who were wrapped in cloaks and scarves. they watched him turn and go up the marble stairs but not before he whispered something to hermoine.

ron and elara looked at each other as they took in hermoine's wide smile.

"what was that about?" ron asked, his nose red from the cold.

"nothing." said hermoine while glancing at elara.

they fell into silence, the only sound heard was the crunching of the snow as they trudged through it. elara's hands were shoved into her pocket and her breath was visible in the cold winter air.

"why's your hair the same as mine? i mean, it's been like that for two weeks." ron asked bluntly as they neared the entrance to hogsmeade village.

"oh -- i changed it to match ginny's, and i kind of just liked how it looked. people have stopped flinching at me." elara added delicately, eyes downcast on the pure-white snow in front of her.

"...have you ever considered turning into snape?"

"ronald!" hermoine scolded.

elara didn't answer. she smiled mischievously at ron and slightly nodded.

"wicked."

hermoine rolled her eyes.

they entered into hogsmeade. the village was adorned in breathtaking christmas decorations. the lights twinkled along to mariah carey's all i want for christmas. fake presents were piled high under the christmas trees.

elara didn't want to leave. she spun around slowly as she took in the sights of the village. ron snickered and hermoine hit his arm. the three made a promise to meet back up at honeydukes after they went their separate ways to buy gifts.

after they parted ways, elara stopped into a shop with assorted gifts. thankfully, the shop had everything she needed. it reminded her of those tiny shops that have anything and everything you would need.

for ron, she found a signed chudley cannons poster that was charmed to show the play featured zooming around the stadium.

for hermoine, elara purchased a few small candles that claimed they were scented like literary classics. she bought 'alice's adventures in wonderland', 'the merchant of venice', and 'romeo and juliet'.

for harry, it took awhile until she was able to come to a decision. she finally bought a replica of a snitch that flew a few feet away before it came back if not caught in time.

for corrine, elara found a book titled 'wreck this journal', and it seemed like something fun corrine could do when she was bored (which was all the time).

the three met up at honeydukes an hour later and began to browse around the store. elara and ron began piling up on candy, struggling to hold it all.

there were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of every flavor beans, and another of fizzing whizbees, the levitating sherbet balls that ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were 'special effects' — sweets: droobles best blowing gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery toothflossing stringmints, tiny black pepper imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), ice mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!'),fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons.

elara, ron, hermoine stopped under a sign labeled 'unusual tastes' while looking for stuff to bring harry.

"what about a beetle hard candy?"

"ew -- no." hermoine's nose wrinkled.

"ooh, these look fun!" elara gestured to the tray of blood-favored lollipops jokingly.

"ugh, no, harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, i expect."

"how about these?" said ron, shoving a jar of cockroach clusters under elara's nose.

elara moved away in disgust and bumped into someone behind her. she turned around to apologize, but no one was there.

"definitely not," said the empty space.

ron nearly dropped the jar. the empty space was pulled away to reveal harry.

"harry!" squealed hermione. "what are you doing here? how — how did you —?"

"what the bloody hell?!" elara exclaimed, staring wildly at harry.

the golden trio realized elara hadn't been with them the past two years, therefore she didn't know about the invisibility cloak.

"oh, i got an invisibility cloak for christmas first-year."

elara gaped at harry.

"wow!" said ron, looking very impressed, "you've learned to apparate!"

"'course i haven't," said harry. he dropped his voice so that none of the sixth years behind them could hear and told elara, ron and hermoine all about the marauder's map.

"how come fred and george never gave it to me!" said ron, outraged. "i'm their brother!"

"but harry isn't going to keep it!" said hermione, as though the idea were ludicrous. "he's going to hand it in to professor mcgonagall, aren't you, harry?"

"are you mental? hermoine, this is wonderful! can you imagine what we could do with it? you'd really hand in something this good?" elara exclaimed in wonder.

"if i hand it in, i'll have to say where i got it! filch would know fred and george had nicked it!" harry protested.

"but what about sirius black?" hermione hissed. "he could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! the teachers have got to know!"

"he can't be getting in through a passage," said harry quickly. "there are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? fred and george reckon filch already knows about four of them. and of the other three — one of them's caved in, so no one can get through it. one of them's got the whomping willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it. and the one i just came through — well — it's really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar — so unless he knew it was there —"

ron cleared his throat significantly, and pointed to a notice pasted on the inside of the sweet shop door.

BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

customers are reminded that until further notice, dementors will be patrolling the streets of hogsmeade every night after sundown. this measure has been put in place for the safety of hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of sirius black. it is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall.

merry christmas!

"see?" said ron quietly. "i'd like to see black try and break into honeydukes with dementors swarming all over the village. anyway, hermione, the honeydukes owners would hear a breakin, wouldn't they? they live over the shop!"

"yes, but — but —" hermoine seemed to be struggling to find another problem. "look, harry still shouldn't be coming into hogsmeade. he hasn't got a signed form! if anyone finds out, he'll bein so much trouble! and it's not nightfall yet — what if sirius black turns up today? now?"

elara looked down at her hands. again, she felt more than awful about sirius black being her cousin. her family was just a whole bunch of bad apples.

"he'd have a job spotting harry in this," said ron, nodding through the mullioned windows atthe thick, swirling snow. "come on, hermione, it's christmas. harry deserves a break."

hermione bit her lip, looking extremely worried.

"are you going to report me?" harry asked her, grinning.

"oh — of course not — but honestly, harry —"

"have you seen the fizzing whizbees, harry?" said elara, grabbing him and leading him over to their barrel. she was desperate for a subject change. "and the jelly slugs? and the acid pops? nymphie gave me one of those when i was seven— it burnt a hole right through my tongue. i never remembered aunt meda looking so angry."

"reckon fred'd take a bite of cockroach cluster if i told him they were peanuts?" ron said, staring longingly at the cockroach cluster jar.

when elara, ron and hermione had paid for all their sweets, the four of them left honeydukes for the blizzard outside. elara couldn't get over how hogsmeade looked like a christmas card; the little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a layer of crisp snow; there were holly wreaths on the doors and strings of enchanted candles hanging in the trees.

elara noticed harry shivering. he didn't have his cloak. she unwrapped her scarf from around her neck and handed it to harry. he protested at first but she insisted.

"take it!" she shouted over the wind. "i'll be fine!"

harry reluctantly took the scarf but wound it around his neck. they headed up the street, heads bowed against the wind. ron and hermoine shouted through their scarves while elara kept quiet. she was freezing.

"that's the post office —"

"zonko's is up there —"

"we could go up to the shrieking shack —"

"i think a butterbeer in the three broomsticks sounds amazing!" elara yelled over the wind, teeth chattering.

harry felt guilty for accepting her scarf.

they was more than willing; the wind was fierce and their hands were freezing, so they crossed the road, and in a few minutes were entering the tiny inn.

it was extremely crowded, noisy, warm, and smoky. a curvy sort of woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the bar.

"that's madam rosmerta," said ron. "i'll get the drinks, shall i?" he added, going slightly red.

elara, harry and hermione made their way to the back of the room, where there was a small, vacant table between the window and a handsome christmas tree, which stood next to the fireplace. ron came back five minutes later, carrying four foaming tankards of hot butterbeer.

"merry christmas!" he said happily, raising his tankard.

elara drank deeply. she loved butterbeer as it seemed to heat every bit of her from the inside. still, she shivered and tried to ignore the guilty look harry shot her as she pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders.

a sudden breeze flowed through her hair. the door of the three broomsticks had opened again. elara looked over the rim of her tankard and almost choked on her drink.

professors mcgonagall and flitwick had just entered the pub with a flurry of snowflakes, shortly followed by hagrid, who was deep in conversation with a portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pin striped cloak — cornelius fudge, minister of magic.

he was the one who mediated the hearing to see who would become the guardian of elara.