she felt almost at peace with the world, others, and herself. in the beginning, she had doubts that training would cease her seemingly never-ending anger, but she felt happy. in addition to her new elation, elara felt powerful. she almost had complete control over fire, she had learned dozens of new spells, could brew difficult potions, and most importantly, she almost had gotten over her fear of heights.

she felt prepared. over everything, she felt that if voldemort were to attack her right now, she could successfully take him down without breaking a sweat.

elara pushed herself out of bed. she was happy. no bad dreams, no waking up periodically through the night, just a solid eight hours of sleep. even though the world around her seemed to be crumbling at a super alarming rate, she was happy with herself for the first time in a long time.

she barreled down the stairs to find the house empty. anya must not be up yet. elara always wondered why millennia old human forces of magic need to sleep or even partake in the usual human functions, but she concluded that it was probably much to difficult for her to even try to understand.

elara found some leftover omelets in the fridge. she sat at the table and began eating until anya came down the rickety old staircase fifteen minutes later. she looked off. she seemed distressed. anya was never distressed. she was always calm, even when elara was bitching about doing something.

"anya. . . . are you all right?" said elara slowly, wondering if anya had lost it somehow.

anya took a deep breath and massaged her forehead.

"there's something wrong. i can feel it."

"with you?"

"no, with the universe," said anya rather weakly, as if the life had been taken from her.

"what — "

"there's an imbalance. it's tipping. things are happening, elara, and they're happening fast. it's your time — "

"great," said elara sarcastically, "more riddles."

"listen," said anya desperately, "the dark one is acting. i see fear, i panic, i see uncertainty. you have to help them see. help them see what's happening. you must find the anima exercituum. one has already been found. you must act now — "

as soon as anya's fit started, it ended. it seemed like a veil passed over her. she seemed fine. she seemed normal (as normal as millennia old forces of magic can be). it was unnerving to elara. anya was never the one to freak out. what she saw must have been disturbing.

anya took the last omelet out of the refrigerator and sat adjacent to elara, eating normally. elara swallowed her bite and set her fork down.

"hey, anya. . . ."

"yes?"

"er — what do, um, what does 'the anima exercituum' mean?" asked elara in the most innocent way possible.

"it translates to english as 'the soul hosts'. why do you ask?"

"no reason," said elara quickly, continuing to eat the eggs.

elara didn't bring up the weird interaction the rest of the day. it wasn't hard, as anya had decided that elara was ready and that she could as she pleased on her last day before only coming back in dreams. she decided she wanted to wander around the hillsides.

for going off to war in less than four hours, elara thought wandering around seemed normal. she even decided to pack a basket of food like she was in one of those disney movies nymphie was obsessed with.

she felt content, which was something rare for elara. she'd been happy, but it was never quite filling. she savored the feeling of the sun in her face, the breeze gently winding through her hair, and the tall grass brushing her tanned legs.

even in the midst of all this war, everything felt right in that moment.

it came near time dumbledore and harry were supposed to arrive. elara turned around on her path in the forest and began heading back to anya's tiny cottage. elara realized that even though she whined about coming here, she really loved the place. it was like this warm little bubble that kept her safe from the world except that bubble is owned by a intimidating women who reminded her of the world's end every five minutes. it was still somewhat peaceful, though.

elara would have normally changed back into her normal ensemble of dirty combat boots (yes, even in summer), shorts and a tee, except she really loved the sundress she had on currently. deciding she wanted to be unnaturally soft a little while more, elara decided to keep the sundress and combat boots.

after an ungodly amount of caffeine and silent judgement from anya, dumbledore and harry arrived. anya had been out in the garden and elara was inside trying to perfect her iced coffee recipe. there was a soft, gentle disturbance in the air. elara almost didn't notice it at first until she peered out the window and saw two figures slowly growing larger.

conflicted with whether she wanted to have her disney 'run into harry's arms moment so she can brag about it to nymphie and check another thing off on the disney-fied lives list' or to finish her iced coffee, elara grabbed four more iced cubes, dropped them in the already condensated jar, and ran out the house.

"i was just about to tell you," began anya as elara zoomed passed in a weird manner as she was holding iced coffee in one hand, "but i think you got it."

elara tried waving to let anya know she heard, but she ended up doing some weird twisty thing with her arm and spilling iced coffee everywhere. exasperated and somewhat disappointed, elara dropped the jar onto the grassy hillside and continued jogging until she reached harry.

no words were said. all elara knew was that harry felt warm and familiar. he felt safe. she clung to his shirt, buried her face in the warm curve of his neck, and never wanted to let go. it felt as if energy was being restored to her. she no longer felt that ever-nagging tiredness in the pit of her stomach.

"i'll go speak to anya," said dumbledore amusedly.

as soon as they heard his footsteps fade away, they pulled apart. nothing was said for a short while, until elara couldn't keep it in.

"i missed you so much," said elara breathlessly, as if she had just finished running a 5k.

"i missed you too — "

"you geek ass nerd."

harry smiled more widely.

"i thought something might have been wrong, you were being sappy," said harry slyly.

"i drank six cups of coffee, i'm ready to go."

harry continued smiling.

"you're creeping me out — "

"i just love you."

something panged elara's heartstrings. she didn't know if it was guilt, joy, or the six cups of coffee, but it was something.

"shit. i love you too."

they stood smiling at each other. elara wanted to slap herself. she still thought it humiliating she was willing to give up everything for some boy. then, she remembered it was literally written in the stars that they would love one another recklessly. but she still thought it was a tiny bit weird.

"its been hell not knowing if you were okay," said harry suddenly.

"of course i was okay," said elara, "you'd've heard if i wasn't."

"i know," said harry, kicking at the ground, "i couldn't help it, though."

elara smiled. she didn't quite understand it, but knowing harry worried and cared about her wellbeing made her feel bubbly. she stood on her toes and pressed a kiss onto harry's lips.

"what was that for?" said harry after she pulled away.

"just kiss me, you idiot."

maybe in that moment, on the grassy hillside under the shining sun, everything was okay. and maybe it would stay that way.

elara wasn't aware of how much time had passed — whether three minutes or thirty minutes, she was content and wrapped up in the exhilarating feeling of her heart pounding violently in her chest. no many how many times they kiss, the feeling never fades.

harry's thumb ran absentmindedly over her cheek. it came in contact with a small burn from when elara was still new at controlling fire. elara jerked at the contact and harry froze.

"you're hurt?"

"no — "

in the blink of an eye, both of harry's hands were on elara's face as he examined the burn wound and looked for any others.

"it was an accident, it was my fault anyways," protested elara, trying to pry his hands away from her face.

"you burned yourself? how?" said harry, rather worriedly.

"er — i haven't told you. . . ." said elara sheepishly, deciding now would be as good a time as any to reveal some of the contents of her prophecy.

"told me what?" said harry, letting go of elara's face.

"so, you know how i refused to tell you what was in my prophecy?"

"yeah. . . .?"

elara took a deep breath.

"okay, so basically i'm a seer because of this prophecy. i'm supposed to be your protector and i'm supposed to save the magical world. to help me do this, the ancients granted me extra power even though its pretty limited. also, the fact that i'm a metamorphogus plays into this as well. apparently, it was written in the stars or something that we would find our way to each other, so there's that. oh, and, my patronus is a doe now."

harry blinked before reacting.

"wait, what? your patronus is a doe?"

"out of all that," sighed elara, "you only got that my patronus changed?"

"your patronus is a doe?"

elara sighed again.

"yes."

"does that mean — ?"

"yep."

"so that would explain why — ?"

"yes."

"wait, what about — ?"

"no more questions!"

when elara had said her goodbyes to anya and gotten all her stuff packed and ready, she, harry, and dumbledore hiked back out to the hillside.

"elara, you have done this before," said dumbledore, "but harry, you have not, so you will need to hold on to my arm very tightly. my left, if you don't mind — as you have noticed, my wand arm is a little fragile at the moment. elara, grab onto harry."

elara gripped harry's forearm.

"very good," said dumbledore. "well, here we go."

elara felt harry's arm twist away from her and redoubled her grip; the next thing she knew, she was going through the same terrible thing she had went through a months before. her eyeballs were being forced back into her head, it was difficult to breathe —

she gulped great lungfuls of cold night air and opened her streaming eyes. she felt as though she had just been forced through a very tight rubber tube. she, harry, and dumbledore were now standing in what appeared to be a deserted village square, in the center of which stood an old war memorial and a few benches.

"are you all right, harry?" asked dumbledore, looking down at him solicitously. "the sensation does take some getting used to."

"i'm fine," said harry, rubbing his ears. "but i think i might prefer brooms. . . ."

"elara, do you need to throw up again?"

"surprisingly, no."

dumbledore smiled, drew his traveling cloak a little more tightly around his neck, and said, "this way."

he set off at a brisk pace, past an empty inn and a few houses. aaccording to a clock on a nearby church, it was almost midnight.

"so tell me, harry," said dumbledore. "your scar . . . has it been hurting at all?"

harry raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed the lightning-shaped mark.

"no," he said, "and i've been wondering about that. i thought it would be burning all the time now voldemort's getting so powerful again."

"i, on the other hand, thought otherwise," said dumbledore. "lord voldemort has finally realized the dangerous access to his thoughts and feelings you have been enjoying. it appears that he is now employing occlumency against you."

"well, i'm not complaining," said harry, who smiled after elara slipped her hand in his.

"what about you, elara? how are your visions?"

elara made a face.

"annoying. i stay awake during them now. its like i'm living two timelines at once. most of the time i do pass out, though."

"anything interesting?"

"yeah, actually, i saw professor snape — "

"we will discuss it when we are not susceptible to prying eyes and ears."

they turned a corner, passing a telephone box and a bus shelter. harry looked sideways at dumbledore again. "professor?"

"harry?"

"er — where exactly are we?"

"this, harry, is the charming village of budleigh babberton."

"and what are we doing here?"

"ah yes, of course, i haven't told you," said dumbledore. "well, i have lost count of the number of times i have said this in recent years, but we are, once again, one member of staff short. we are here to persuade an old colleague of mine to come out of retirement and return to hogwarts."

"how can lara and i help with that, sir?"

"oh, i think we'll find a use for you," said dumbledore vaguely. "left here."

"so we're seducing a professor?" said elara amusedly.

"jolly good, elara."

they proceeded up a steep, narrow street lined with houses. all the windows were dark. an odd chill that sent shivers up elara's spine persisted here. thinking of dementors, she cast a look over her shoulder and grasped her wand reassuringly at her side.

"professor, why couldn't we just apparate directly into your old colleague's house?"

"because it would be quite as rude as kicking down the front door," said dumbledore. "courtesy dictates that we offer fellow wizards the opportunity of denying us entry. in any case, most wizarding dwellings are magically protected from unwanted apparators. at hogwarts, for instance —"

"— you can't apparate anywhere inside the buildings or grounds," said harry quickly. "hermione granger told me."

"and she is quite right. we turn left again."

the church clock chimed midnight behind them. elara wondered why dumbledore did not consider it rude to call on his old colleague so late, but now that conversation had been established, she had more pressing questions to ask. she had missed so much in the past month.

"what happened to fudge? is he still in office?"

"no," said dumbledore, now turning up a steep side street. "he has been replaced, as i am sure you also saw, harry, by rufus scrimgeour, who used to be head of the auror office."

"is he . . . do you think he's good?" asked harry.

"an interesting question," said dumbledore. "he is able, certainly. a more decisive and forceful personality than cornelius."

"yes, but i meant —"

"i know what you meant. rufus is a man of action and, having fought dark wizards for most of his working life, does not underestimate lord voldemort."

elara waited, but dumbledore did not say anything else about scrimgeour.

"and . . . sir . . . i saw about madam bones," said harry,

"yes," said dumbledore quietly. "a terrible loss. she was a great witch. just up here, i think — ouch."

he had pointed with his injured hand.

"professor, what happened to your — ?"

"i have no time to explain now," said dumbledore. "it is a thrilling tale, i wish to do it justice."

elara racked her brain for any type of vision that would explain what had happened to dumbledore's hand.

"sir — i got a ministry of magic leaflet by owl, about security measures we should all take against the death eaters. . . ."

"yes, i received one myself," said dumbledore, still smiling. "did you find it useful?"

"not really."

"no, i thought not. you have not asked me, for instance, what is my favorite flavor of jam, to check that i am indeed professor dumbledore and not an impostor."

"i didn't . . ." harry began.

"for future reference, it is raspberry . . . although of course, if i were a death eater, i would have been sure to research my own jam preferences before impersonating myself. elara, i'm sure you know enough about harry — "

"loco vetoers wouldn't have let you in if you weren't who you say you were," said elara resolutely.

"er . . . right," said harry. "well, on that leaflet, it said something about inferi. what exactly are they? the leaflet wasn't very clear."

"they are corpses," said dumbledore calmly. "dead bodies that have been bewitched to do a dark wizard's bidding. Inferi have not been seen for a long time, however, not since voldemort was last powerful. . . . he killed enough people to make an army of them, of course."

"i've seen them," said elara in an odd voice, remembering the chilling vision she had only a few days before, "they're in a cave, under the water. there's thousands of them. . . ."

"you are quite right. this is the place, just here. . . ."

they were nearing a small, neat stone house set in its own garden. elara was too busy remembering the horrible idea of inferi to have much attention left for anything else, but as they reached the front gate, harry stopped dead and elara walked into him.

"oh dear. oh dear, dear, dear."

elara followed dumbledore's gaze up the carefully tended front path and felt her heart sink. the front door was hanging off its hinges.

dumbledore glanced up and down the street. it seemed quite deserted.

"wand out and follow me," he said quietly. "it might be dangerous."