“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“My parents.” Joan said, swallowing hard and starting again, “My parents had a storage shed in London, a locker full of things, and I have to collect them by the New Years if I want to keep them.” Joan said, her eyes wide and worried.

“Well, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” Ron shrugged.

“I have to go down in person to collect them!” Joan said, looking over the note once more, “How am I supposed to get to London?” she sounded frantic. They were all quiet for a moment.

“I know,” Hermione began loftily, “Lorelai has do go down tomorrow to sign papers for her inheritance, I’m sure Dumbledore will let you go down as well.” Hermione said proudly, sitting up just slightly straighter, her nose almost in the air.

“That would work!” Ron smiled.

“Good thinking, Hermione.” Harry said.

Lorelai joined them just then, a smile on her face. “Notice anything?” she asked, smiling widely and wiggling her hands in front of her proudly, as she pulled her long legs over the bench.

“Hey, you’re not beaten up!” Ron said.

“And your hands are better.” Harry added, noticing that her hands were not cut and slightly green like they had been the night before. Her eyebrow was not split, her lip was no longer swollen, and the large purple lump underneath her left eye was gone.

“I’ve just been up to Madame Pomfrey.” She said proudly, “Dare say Malfoy hasn’t.” she said haughtily. She was surprised at how easily the name ‘Malfoy’ rolled off her lips, as she was used to addressing him by his first name.

“Joan’s gotten a letter.” Harry said, “Says she has to go to London.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Lorelai said, inadvertently repeating Ron, “Dumbledore will probably let you go down with me.” She said, taking a rather large bite of her breakfast. “What’s it for anyway?” she asked, barely coherent through her eggs and toast.

“A storage locker my parents had. It said I need to empty it out.” Joan said, neatly folding the letter back up.

“That’s great!” Lorelai said, and Joan looked slightly surprised, not seeing the reason for her excitement. “I have a house in London now, about the size of a large apartment back home. You can store your stuff there until you can move it to Lupin’s!” Lorelai sounded proud of herself.

“If you’re sure Dumbledore will let me…” Joan said slowly, looking up at the staff table wearily.

As it turned out, Dumbledore was aware of the locker, and was more than willing to let Joan go. Not only that, but Ron had managed to talk him into letting Him, Hermione, Harry and Fred Weasley go along too. George might have gone as well, if it weren’t for the promise of all the food he could eat back at the castle, and the fact that he didn’t have a bulky crush on Lorelai Black.

He informed them that arrangements were already made for Lorelai to depart that evening, and that the rest of them might go along as well.

Hermione agreed, as Viktor had to leave that night anyway, and the three girls were currently running up the stairs to the dormitory, as they only had an hour left to pack before they had to leave for Hogsmeade.

Joan had finished packing first, and was watching Lorelai pack hastily. "Honestly, why do you own all of these shirts and sweaters?" she asked, sounding honestly perplexed, "Don't you get bored with them?"

Lorelai looked at her strangely, but continued folding a mint green sweater, "No." she said, and dropped it into her suitcase.

Joan however, had a naughty twinkle in her eye. "I mean, look at them, they're all the same neckline... HUGE! Are you trying to flash everyone? Look at that! Deep neck line, lace up... easily pop-able buttons, anyone taller than you gets a great view!" Hermione was smiling, and Ginny wasn't hiding her giggles. Hermione was charming her school books to be lightweight, so she could bring more of them, and Ginny was just watching them pack, spending time with them before they left.

"Well then, it's a good thing no one's taller than me!" Lorelai said indignantly, folding her pajama shirt. She blushed slightly as she folded it, knowing she left the top buttons open on that too, for a larger neckline.

Joan smiled naughtily and snatched up the mint green sweater. Lorelai made a mad swipe for it, but Joan dashed away, and jumped on her bed, so that the entire dormitory could see her. "Look at this one! It would fit me! It's like-" she stretched it tightly over her bust, "this on you!" Hermione laughed aloud this time, and Lorelai tried not to grin.

"Hand it over." she said bossily.

"And look at this! Three buttons!" Joan said, looking at the three large brown buttons. "When do you wear this? When you're seducing?" and the girls laughed as Joan continued to bounce on the bed. Lorelai fought a giggle, and extended her hand out.

"The sweater, Joan." Lorelai demanded.

Joan tossed it back, but kept bouncing. She wasn't exactly barren in the chest department either. She stopped bouncing and grabbed her chest, shoving them together, and pushing them up.

"Well hello, Mr. Weeeeeeasley." Joan said, leaning forward and showing quite a large amount of cleavage. "Would you like to play..." she pulled her white uniform shirt down until she was almost flashing the room, "...'Quidditch'?"

Hermione was holding onto the bedpost for support, and Ginny’s knees had gone out from under her, she was laughing so hard. Lorelai stifled a laugh in her throat, and grabbed her wand.

"Rictusempra!" she shouted, and Joan collapsed onto her bed in even more violent laughter, shrieking and holding her sides.

Professor Lupin and Sirius had come down with them as well. As Fred was along for the trip, and Sirius couldn’t come out of his dog form in wizarding company, he remained his large, black, dog self for the entire trip.

Professor Lupin took Lorelai first to sign the papers that legally gave her her inheritance. They all made their way to the house, which turned out to be fully furnished still. Harry and Lorelai walked in side by side, their eyes and mouths open wide.

“Oh… my… God….” Lorelai said, staring up at the raised ceiling, and walking towards the stair case that would carry her up the four floors of her new home. “This is huge!”

“Look at the size of this place!” Ron said.

“I thought you said it was large apartment sized.” Joan said, her voice slightly breathy.

“I thought it was!” Lorelai said aghast.

“Blimey…” Fred said, his neck craning upwards, as the group of six students looked around. Professor Lupin sighed heavily, and dropped his bag on the floor.

“Well, I suggest we all go find a room to sleep in, especially you Joan-” he turned a severe, fatherly eye on her, “You have quite a lot to do tomorrow.” He said.

She rolled her eyes, “Cousin, cousin, cousin…” she sighed, “I know, try not to act so… old… will you?” she said, and started up the stairs.

Lorelai turned and looked at Sirius, who had been standing right between her and Harry, as if still guarding them. “Well, which room should be mine?” she asked Sirius, and he started up the stairs with a resounding, echoing bark, and bounded up. Lorelai and Harry had to run up the stairs to keep up with him, their luggage flopping clumsily in their hands. They passed Ron and Fred, Joan and Hermione on their way up.

Sirius led her up three flights of stairs before he went to a large set of engraved double doors. He tried to turn the knob with his paw, but it didn’t work. Lorelai opened one of the doors, quite out of breath, to see a large, four poster, twice the size of any bed she had ever seen. There were a series of tall, quartered windows, with silky, billowy, cream colored drapes, and a fireplace with sitting chairs opposite the bed. Against the far wall was a large dresser, and a small, thin door that Lorelai suspected was the closet.

“Bloody hell,” Harry muttered under his breath. Simultaneously, he and Lorelai started towards the center of the room, and set their bags down at the end of the bed.

“I’m sleeping here.” They said together, both in the same amazed tone. They exchanged quizzical glances, then Lorelai shrugged.

“The bed is big enough for the two of us to share.” She said, and jumped onto it’s foot.

“Excuse me?” Joan asked, making it to the top of the stairs.

“Actually Joan-” Professor Lupin was just behind her, panting heavily, “I think it best – if you and – Harry – don’t share a bedroom.” He said, clutching his side. Fred, Ron and Hermione rounded the top of the stairs and continued on upstairs, turning their heads to gather in all of the house they could.

“Come Joan – we’ll find a room for you and Hermione.” Professor Lupin said, as Harry collapsed on the bed, lying flat on his back. Professor Lupin placed a hand on Joan’s disgruntled and tired shoulder, and started to usher her up the next flight of stairs, and motioned for Sirius to join them. Sirius, on the other hand, had crawled onto the bed, between Lorelai and Harry, and had planted himself there firmly. He gave Lupin a firm look, and rested his chin on this front paws.

“I suppose it is better if you watch them…” Lupin trailed off, rolling his eyes slightly, and started up the stairs with Joan right in front of him. Lorelai swore she could almost hear her growl slightly.

Lorelai would have gladly let Joan sleep next to Harry, or even her for that matter, as she didn’t really mind, if it hadn’t been that she was so tired. Without even undressing and changing into her Pajamas, Lorelai had fallen asleep.

Lorelai woke up the next morning to the sound of rustling paper and cardboard boxes being opened. She woke to see Joan eating a generously buttered crumpet. Harry was sitting next to her on the floor, with Professor Lupin and Hermione next to them. Sirius was sleeping on the floor under the window, in a large patch of sunlight, his raven black fir glittering in the morning light.

Lorelai noticed that they all had food of some sort around them, and Hermione and Professor Lupin each had a cup of tea.

“Morning.” Lorelai said groggily, taking note that her clothes were still on from the night before.

“Guess what!” Joan said excitedly, her mouth full of crumpet, “You have two house elves!” Lorelai was quite shocked, and then, as if on cue, two little house elves, one with large, floppy ears and the other with tall, straight pointy ears, came running into the bedroom, one carrying a silver platter of tea things, and another with what looked at smelled like fresh apricot scones.

Lorelai’s stomach lurched in appreciation as she realized how hungry she actually was. The elves, as if knowing, or sensing something, came running over to Lorelai and carefully set the trays on the chest at the end of the bed.

“Miss is up!” cried the one with tall ears in a squeaky voice, and they both bowed deeply in front of her, the ears of the floppy eared house elf hitting the floor. They stood back up again, and the one with floppy ears, which Lorelai thought sort of resembled a basset hound with it’s large ears and round button nose, pointed elaborately at the tall eared elf.

“Miss, this is Yo-yo, and I am Minz.” He said, a small, typical house elf voice, but in very proper English. “We served your grandmother and we will serve you too.” He said, and they both bowed deeply again.

Lorelai was quite shocked, but quickly replied, “Pleased to meet you.” Lorelai said, “I, uh- I’ve never had a house elf before.” She said, “But I’ve never had a house, either.” She chuckled, “I trust you know how to run things for me?” Both elves were quiet for a moment.

To fill the awkward silence, Lorelai looked down at the plate of scones, “This looks wonderful, thank you very much.” She said, and picked one up. It was still warm and was flaky and sweet, and didn’t even need clotted cream.

Yo-yo’s extremely large, electric blue eyes were wide in disbelief.

Minz spoke; “Is there anything Miss will be needing?” he asked, almost hesitantly, and held his arms as though he was ready to flinch.

Lorelai swallowed quickly, and Yo-yo flinched just slightly, “Yes, uh… I don’t suppose you could make me hot chocolate, could you?” But Lorelai quickly added a ‘please’ to her statement. Both elves were looking more surprised then ever, but a smile spread quickly across Yo-yo’s face.

“Yes! Anything Miss wants!” and darted off so quickly Lorelai barely saw her.

“And please call me Lorelai!” Lorelai shouted after the house elf.

“Of course, Miss!” said Minz happily, and took off after Yo-yo. Lorelai chuckled, grabbed another scone (which she quickly stuck in her mouth) poured herself a cup of tea, and crawled off the bed, sitting between Harry and Hermione.

“I don’t think they’ve been treated very well before.” Joan said, finishing her crumpet.

“Find anything interesting?” Lorelai asked after she swallowed her scone, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and blew on her hot tea. She looked at the large cardboard box in front of her, with the world ‘Photos’ scribbled on it in a very untidy scrawl.

“We’ve just opened it.” Hermione said, standing and bringing the tray of scones closer to them, which had lemon curd, clotted cream, and marion berry jam on the tray, though Lorelai thought the scones were good enough on their own.

Professor Lupin reached into the box, and pulled out the first picture his hands touched. In the picture, there was a very tall, scruffy haired boy with black hair and bright blue eyes underneath round wire frame glasses. On his arm, was a very pretty red haired girl, her hair slightly curly, and she had vividly green eyes. They were standing in front of Hogwarts, and with them, was another seemingly teenage couple.

The boy was gargantuan in height, though recognizable as completely human. He had long, blonde hair, well past his knees and out of the picture, and a Gryffindor emblem on his school robe. On his back, with her arms wrapped around his neck, and her legs around his waist, was a girl that looked incredibly like Joan, though she looked to be even shorter, placing her under five feet. Her hair was strawberry blonde, and her eyes were the same shade of sky blue that Joan’s were. All four were smiling widely, and looked to be quite happy.

“I took this one,” Remus said with a reminiscent smile on his face. “It was the last day of school. James and Lily were engaged already, and Maximus and Tamlyn were about to leave for America together, with-”

“These are your parents, Joan?” Joan nodded, and smiling with slightly misty eyes, picked up the picture and looked closer at it.

Remus pulled out another picture, Lorelai recognized Tamlyn and Lily from the first picture but this time there were three more girls in there, and they all looked much younger, about the age that they were now. The tallest had shoulder length blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, the same shade of Lorelai’s. She had a large goofy smile, and Lorelai instantly felt like she might like to spend some time with this person. There was another short girl standing next to Tamlyn, with hair redder than Lily’s but shorter even than Joan’s. She had abnormally large brown eyes, but she didn’t look quite human, and her ears had the slightest point to them. The last girl though, with a head full of red curls and dazzling green eyes, had ears so pointy that they stuck out of her hair. She had an almost upturned nose and a splattering of freckles to rival Ron’s.

“Who are all these girls?” Hermione asked, recognizing the Gryffindor Girl’s dormitory as the five smiling girls waved up at them.

“This is Daija,” Remus said with a not so innocent smile, and pointed to the girl with curly red hair, “She’s a werewolf as well, but she’s got a teaching job at Phoenixbrow in America.” He said, and handed the picture to Lorelai and Harry, as they all leaned in to look at it. “This is Endrea, but we called her Endy. She’s living in France right now, working at Beauxbatons, and this is Joz, well… Jossalin.” Remus said with a heavy sigh.

“What does she do?” Hermione asked.

“She was in Auror training with my parents.” Joan said.

“But she didn’t finish, did she?” Harry asked, his voice as heavy as his stomach felt.

“Jossalin Bones.” Remus said, “Voldemort killed her and both of her sisters.”

“The Bones sisters…” Hermione repeated vaguely.

The third picture that Professor Lupin pulled out made him grow very quiet. He looked at the picture, swallowed hard, and then passed it to Hermione. Lorelai looked over her shoulder at it, eating another scone.

She recognized Remus instantly, even if he was a bit thinner now, and aged quite a bit more. She recognized James from the pictures of course, but it took her a moment to realize who Sirius was. His face was much younger looking, his eyes were wild and happy, and his raven black hair was in a layered cut to his shoulders.

“Whoa!” she cried, spewing crumbs into Hermione’s bushy hair, “Sirius was hot!” she said, pointing at the picture. Remus chuckled slightly under his breath.

“That was the general consensus back at school as well.” He was smiling vaguely.

Lorelai’s eyes fell on the fourth figure though, and her stunned smile faded, her mouth hanging open just slightly, bits of scone threatening to drop out. “That’s him, isn’t it?” She asked, motioning to the pale, blonde and tubby boy at the end of the line. He was shorter than all of them, and his eyes were beady, his nose thin and pointy. While the other three were smiling, he was looking around the corners of the picture, like he was looking for a way to run out of the frame, if it hadn’t been for James Potter’s arm, so tightly around his shoulders.

Remus nodded solemnly, looking at the shifty eyed companion in the picture. “I don’t know why we didn’t all see it before.” He sighed heavily, and Joan turned down the chance to look at the photo, while Remus pulled out another one.

This picture was much happier, and portrayed Sirius and James mugging for the camera, scrolls clutched in their hands, both of them smiling broadly. Sirius had a shaggy haircut, in layers, the longest going to his shoulders, and big, cheerful brown eyes. His smile was loud almost, like it wanted to leap audibly off the paper. James had his glasses askew, and every time he went to fix them, Sirius would knock them back askew, and James would glare at him with his piercing blue eyes. They were such a rich, dark shade of navy blue that they almost looked black.

The next photograph was likewise of Remus and the huge boy with long hair Lorelai recognized as Maximus, Joan’s father. They too, were holding scrolls, and wearing the same special robes that James and Sirius had been wearing. Maximus had Remus in a playful headlock, that didn’t look to be too effective, as Remus kept breaking loose of it, but they seemed to be having a jolly good time of it anyway.

The following item pulled from the box was not a picture, but in fact a beautiful piece of parchment, with careful, elaborate green lettering on it. It was James and Lily’s wedding invitation. Harry held it in his hands for a long time, running his thumbs carefully over the lettering, as if trying to memorize it by touch.

Another picture brought a short burst of laughter out of Remus’ mouth, and he passed it along too. Tamlyn and Daija, the shorter girl with curly red hair and pointed ears, were posing, back to back for the camera, mugging and blowing kisses.

The next thing after the photo was another piece of parchment, in fact, it was two stuck together. The first was a photo of two people, one with smiling eyes and golden red hair, the same shade of Lorelai’s. The man at her side looked very much like Sirius, except that his hair was a sandy blonde color, though he had the same, large brown eyes.

“Oh my god,” Lorelai said, grabbing it away from Remus quickly, “That’s my father!” she said, looking at the photo, bringing it closer to her face as if trying to get inside it as her young parents smiled and waved, periodically kissing each other.

“You’ve never seen him?” Harry asked.

“I had one picture when I was little. My mother wouldn't keep wizarding things around, just in case I wasn’t a witch, and all of his photos were wizard photos. I had one muggle picture of him from the newspaper… from his obituary.” She paused, her eyes glazed over in both happiness and mourning, “But I lost it when I was seven. It was very old and yellow… and worn… I looked at that thing every day. One day I went for a fly, to sit at the top of my favorite tree, and I took it out to look at it and it blew away.” She trailed off, staring again at the picture. She rubbed the photograph of her parents again, and it dislodged the second piece of paper stuck to the back.

This piece of paper, was a wizarding photograph of a small baby, with a thin layer of fuzzy, red hair and big blue eyes the same shade they were today.

“Oh my god!” Joan cried, snitching Lorelai’s birth announcement, “Look at how cute you were!” she said.

“What happened?” Harry asked with a playful grin on his face, and quickly received a punch to the arm.

“Shut up you two, I’ve never seen a baby picture either.” She said, looking at her infant self.

“What?” Joan, Harry and Hermione asked in unison.

“I told you my mom didn’t keep wizarding things around after my dad died. She told me that she had to throw away all my baby pictures because they weren’t muggle pictures.” Lorelai said.

“Well, that was retarded.” Joan said playfully.

“Look at this one.” Remus said, handing a very similar piece to Lorelai, except that this baby had a little button nose, and a thick, tiny tuft of black hair on top of his head. His eyes were like Lorelai’s, still the same bright color they were today.

Lorelai and Hermione began to laugh, “Oh Harry! Your hair’s always been messy!” Hermione said, and very endearing tone to her voice as she looked at his baby picture. Joan leaned over, and the three girls all cooed as baby picture Harry yawned and stretched.

“Oh wonderful, I was hoping your parents had this. I was frightened it might have been destroyed in Godric’s Hollow.” Remus said, cracking the cover of a large white book that said; “First Birthday” in elaborate gold letters.

“Did you realize,” he said, looking between Joan and Harry, “That you two had known each other before?” He turned the photo album around, and sitting on the table, with a small white cake between them, was an older version of the baby they had just seen, with a thicker tuft of black hair, and across from him, a little girl with thin blond curls and big baby blue eyes.

“No!” Joan gasped, and she and Harry leaned forward, smiles on their faces as they watched the two babies. Baby Joan reached up and smeared white frosting on the side of Baby Harry’s face. In great baby style, he didn’t respond really, except to suck the frosting off that had gotten on his fingers. He then proceeded to crawl across the cake, and covered in frosting, sat down on Joan, who he was much bigger than.

Lorelai took note of all the faces they had seen in the previous pictures, lined up around the wall and smiling. She noticed the girl with shoulder length blond hair, standing near the kitchen door with Sirius, and watched her coyly lace her fingers with his.

Remus sighed heavily, “It was the last time that we were ever all together.” He said, “Joz went first, then your parents, and Peter and Sirius…” Remus sighed again, and to distract himself, pulled out another picture. It didn’t seem to cheer him up, in fact it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Hermione passed the picture to Lorelai, and she and Harry bent over it. It was Sirius, obviously still in his school days, as he was in uniform, as was the blond girl attached to his arm. They were standing in front of Hogwarts, both smiling, holding tightly to each other’s hands as if they would never let go. And, just like Lorelai’s parents, they kept periodically kissing each other, and smiling wickedly afterwards.

“I remember taking this picture. It was the last day before Easter Holiday.” Remus sighed, “Everyone was so happy, there hadn’t been much sign of Voldemort since Christmas…” he sighed and neglected to continue.

“Who is she?” Harry asked, and Lorelai thought perhaps he was reading into the same strange feeling she got when she looked at the picture of this girl, as if she knew her already.

Remus looked very old in that moment, “Your Godmother, Harry.”

They were all quiet for a moment, before Joan spoke, “I remember stories about Jossalin at the academy. They still take about her, about her and her sisters. About how brave they were, even though they hadn’t all finished training yet.” Joan said, and it seemed nothing else needed to be said.

Remus cleared his throat, as Minz came bounding in stealthily, his huge ears flopping, carrying the largest mug of hot cocoa Lorelai had ever seen. Professor Lupin began to quickly gather up the pictures that features Jossalin, or ‘Joz’ as he kept calling her.

“Please gather these all up. We need to put them in a separate box, Sirius mustn’t see them, and don’t mention her name.” he said, and they all quietly and quickly went through the box separating them quickly.

All Lorelai could imagine, and piece together from the photographs, is that Sirius had been very much in love with this girl when she was murdered.

Much later that evening, after tea, when Hermione had finally convinced Fred and Ron to go with the rest of them to Diagon Alley for school supplies, and owl came through the window, with a large, red envelope attached to it’s leg. Lorelai and Joan looked up at it just as quickly as Remus and Sirius did. Remus opened it quickly, as it was addressed to him, and folded it promptly, running up the stairs. Lorelai and Joan jumped to their feet, following him to the stairs, though they only climbed a few steps.

“Cousin? What’s wrong?” Joan asked loudly up the stairs.

“We have to leave, it’s quite urgent, I’m afraid.” He shouted as he rounded the third set of stairs, Sirius at his heels.

“Do we all need to leave, Remus, or do you want me to hold down the fort until tomorrow?” Joan asked. His head appeared over the rail, out of breath slightly, and the color was drained from his face. He seemed to think about it for a moment.

“No. You all stay here. Catch the train back to school tomorrow morning as planned.” Remus said, then continued to bolt up the stairs.

Within an hour, he had apparated back up to Hogsmeade, with Sirius with him. Joan had decided that if there was a problem, it was up at Hogwarts, not down in London, and as she needed quite a few new school supplies, she agreed with going on into Diagon Alley.

They had arrived within the hour by the underground, and were already discussing how to split up and where to meet again. Ron, though he hated to admit it, did have to go with Hermione to Flourish and Blotts to refurbish his parchment supply. Harry, Joan, Lorelai and Fred, however, went to Quality Quidditch Supplies, though Florien Fortesque’s beckoned deliciously across the alley.

Lorelai and Fred walked into Quality Quidditch Supplies, with Harry and Joan not far behind. They passed someone on the way in, who looked to be in a frantic state to get out.

"Look at that!" Joan said, standing with her eyes wide and childlike in front of a brand new set of Keeper Pads. "Look at the chest plate, light weight but durable." she said, running the tips of her fingers over it. Harry smirked and watched Lorelai and Fred walk over towards the beater section, right next to the seeker section.

"Here honey," Joan said to Harry, dropping his hand, "You can go look at your stuff." she smiled at him quickly, then turned back to worshiping the Quidditch gear.

"I like this one." Lorelai said, holding a beater bat in her hands, swiping at an imaginary bludger in the air; a whooshing sound filling the small shop.

"Hey, watch it!" Harry shouted playfully, ducking and barely missing her.

"Sorry ‘bout that Harry." Lorelai laughed.

"That's okay." Harry smiled, turning to go towards the seeker section, but as soon as he turned, walked right into someone.

"Hey!" Someone shouted indignantly at the same time as Harry nearly fell over and said very quickly, "Sorry!"

But Harry looked up, and the other three turned around just in time to see Draco Malfoy looking venomous. "Oh, Never mind." Harry said, taking back his apology.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, as Joan quickly made her way over to where the other three were. "I thought they kept the orphans at Hogwarts during Christmas." he spat. Both Harry and Fred quickly grabbed the girls, holding them back.

"Watch it Malfoy, or you'll be kissing your own ass goodbye." Joan threatened. The rest were all looking at her quizzically. "What?" she asked, as Harry's grip on her loosened. "You know I can do that." she said, shrugging slightly.

Malfoy shook his head disapprovingly. But Joan was too busy noticing the owner hustling to the front of the shop, his face pale, and he quickly pulled down the shade. Lorelai was too busy staring angrily at Malfoy. He caught her stare and gave it back equally. His face looked as though he had been to a healing witch with a few good charms as well.

"Hey..." Joan said, totally distracted by these events, "Has anyone noticed that there's no one else in here?" she asked as she watched the owner hurry back into the back room again.

Lorelai and Harry stopped what they were doing and looked around real quickly. "No..." Lorelai said, looking over her other shoulder as well. Malfoy cast a glance around the room as well.

"Oh shit." Joan said, and quickly grabbed Harry's shoulder, shoving him down and pulling out her wand in one movement. Harry landed on the ground, just in time to see a spell hit the wall, leaving scorch marks. In an instant the others had their wands out as well, and were all turned. Harry stuffed his hand into his robe, quickly drawing out his wand, and crawling out from underneath the table Joan had shoved him under, just to see Fred fall to the ground. He wasn't dead, and he didn't look injured, but suddenly gave out a loud snore, and Harry realized he was asleep. Harry climbed out from under the table, just dodging Malfoy as he hit the ground.

Harry looked up to see that the upper level of the store was swarming with figures in dark, hooded robes. There were more than he was able to count quickly, and Lorelai and Joan were feverishly dodging and throwing curses and hexes.

"Harry! Run! Get out of here!" Joan turned and shouted at him. But she had taken her eyes off the Death Eaters and was hit with a sleeping curse. Harry caught her as she started to collapse, and helped her to the floor. He heard a thump and knew that Lorelai was down too. He started to stand up, his wand ready in his hand, but suddenly his eyelids were heavy, and everything was going dark.

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