Anyway, we decided to celebrate today by going to see the new Mummy movie, knowing how big a Mummy fan I am. I have to say that I was severely disappointed.

I initially did not want to see the movie, due to casting changes. We have what’s her face replacing our lovely Rachel Weiz and I have to say, I did not like it one bit. But I decided to give the movie a chance because Jet Li was appearing in it, on a plus side we still had Brendan Fraser and John Hannah to light up the screen.

The movie was a big “let’s get there” and not enough “we have to fight the mummy!” While the idea was very interesting, it wasn’t played out to its fullest. There were random things thrown in there here and there, when the group got stumped, suddenly they had someone to save the day! AKA the yeti, or Mad Dog (who I never heard of before M3, shocking enough). It was destiny working in “mysterious ways”, apparently, and getting everyone together in one place so the action could happen. It just took to long for said action to occur, and I was pretty bored and jittery by the time the action came.

The action was… tame, considering the other Mummy movies. There was more “explody” bits than usual, but the reawakened Emperor was supposed to have “power over the five elements”. I only saw two-three elements being used throughout the movie. The directors did not take full advantage of the Emperor’s powers and his army was wasted.

Why did the good mummies have to be reawakened? They didn’t do anything, except provide the best comedic scenes in the entire movie, and the O’Connells could have taken care of the Emperor’s army easily. They were portrayed as pretty wimpy.

There was no chemistry between the actors, except for Fraser and Hannah, the others just didn’t seem to fit in. Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh were seriously misused and their scenes could have been much better. They felt like guest appearances in a movie that was mostly family drama. My first thought at the start of the movie was, “How old is Alex supposed to be? He looks so OLD and his parents so YOUNG!” It just didn’t fit. And I also kept wondering which Emperor Jet Li was supposed to be, they never mentioned and I had to look it up.

As a die-hard Mummy fan, I was so disappointed I cried during the movie. I think I was hoping Rick would stay dead and that would teach his ungrateful son for being so freaking ungrateful. I would die to have Rick O’Connell as my father

I give the movie a whooping 2/5, one point for Fraser and Hannah, and one point for Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. Otherwise, ugh.

We left the house a little after six, to pick up my sister’s friend who would be staying with us. We get to 42nd street and the sky opens up to start poring on us. I was driving my mother’s car, so I didn’t know how to work the windshields. It was a bloody disaster. We live on Blair’s Ferry Road, so the flood hasn’t caused us any problems. My mother has to cross the downtown bridge to get to work in the mornings and people go out there just to take pictures, so it takes hours to actually get anywhere!

My sister went sandbagging, too, and I’m still waiting for things that I ordered online, wondering if I’ll ever get to see the stuff I bought.

More news regarding the flooding and evacuations at various world news sites, here are some specific articles, educate yourself:

• Des Moines being evacuated
• Des Moines officials call for immediate evacuations
• Flood areas mapped (pdf)
• Pet Disaster Plan
• Pet rescues by boat, call the Marion Police (this made me giggle, simple because it’s MARION no offense)
• Interstate 380 closures
• Historic Sutliff Bridge Collapsed
• Salvation Army has to relocate
• Free flights for flood victims
• Iowa flood evacuations rise, losses seen in millions
• Flooding forces evacuations
• The entire Yahoo news page on Cedar Rapids, IA, this is my favorite place to read recent news

All thanks to the Wordpress codex, most specifically; the_tags, the_tag_cloud, the_category, rewinding the loop, etcetera etcetera. Seeing as not much has changed since previous versions of Wordpress, I cleaned up the coding a bit but its not perfect. It functions, though, so that’s something, isn’t it? Most helpful plugins were; customizable post listings, breadcrumb NavXT, easy gravatars, related posts, wp-pagenavi, wp-grins, and  wp-notable.

It should be XHTML valid as well, except for non-existent pages and some services may be temporarily unavailable (and I’m checking up on that now).

I even got my smilies to work! :O Wow. Of course, I’m still missing a few expressions; sad, wink, lol, neutral, idea, and I want a ninja one.

I just noticed the theme looks a little like the JS theme, but it wasn’t supposed to. So don’t say I copied from it, even though I didn’t.

The upper part of the screen. I changed the words on the logo to say “Soleil” using the font: Morpheus, because the O has a dot in the middle and it looks like the symbol for sun. The image of Eternal Sailor Moon is supposed to change depending on the page, but that’s for later when I start coding. Recent posts shows recent posts, of course, 4-5 depending. The gallery shows recent updates to the gallery, which is under “The Diary” link on the top menu. The images will actually be bigger on “the gallery” part, I don’t like the tiny images, therefore there will not be as many listed there (it looks crowded).

The content includes the posts and the sidebar. The sidebar lists off the parts and their summaries, I tried to be a little creative with this.

The footer includes the tag cloud and copyright info. I might change it from “tag cloud” to “categories” or somehow try to include both.

This is what a single post and page would look like. :S I hope I can make this work. I wanted to switch the sidebar around, it gets tiring looking at it in one place. A single page would have subpages listed on the side, instead of post info.

Characters in order, first line; Usagi Tsukino, Rei Hino, Minako Aino, Makoto Kino, Ami Mizuno. Second line; Chibi-Usa, Setsuna Meioh, Haruka Tenoh, Hotaru Tomoe, Michiru Kaioh. Last line; Mamoru Chiba, Yaten Kou, Motoki Furuhata, introducing Soleil, and her brother, Cyrus (he’s dead if you can’t see it properly).

Expressions in order; happy, shocked, love, tongue sticking out, sweatdrop, sigh, sleep, mad, dizzy, angel (innocent), cool, devil (evil), blush, confused, dead. Still missing; sad (others?).

And a black background version, though I’m not entirely sure since they look weird:

Btw, these aren’t available for download at the moment, if ever. I’m thinking of using them for my wanna-be otaku senshi site, if it ever gets off the ground. The only reason they’re not downloadble right now is because this version includes two of my original characters. I plan on adding more expressions and a few characters I’m missing; Seiya, Taiki, Kakyuu, some villains.

Sprite base and some of the expressions credit to Azha.

When I first developed this bunny, it was around 1998-1999, back when I was first introduced to Sailor Moon. At the time, I was only just beginning to get the hang of internet life and spent most of my time in chat rooms. Back then, chat rooms were not so ‘dangerous’ and I was a little crazy online.

It was not until much later that ‘otaku senshi’ began appearing and later after that when some people began writing about how to better otaku senshi. Everyone had to have an otaku senshi site, even now. Unfortunately, it seems that fans with otaku senshi site don’t have the time to work on their… //coughcough// designer skills and most of the sites are a pain to load or look at. Some are so painful to look at that I kill my browser via the task manager and run away from the computer.

Nowadays, otaku senshi creators seem to know each other, as they all link each other as affiliates. Though that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all friends, maybe they’re all part of a cult? I’ve wondered. There’s some very nice otaku senshi sites, I won’t deny it, and some of the otaku senshi aren’t //gasp// Mary-Sueish. Brilliant, eh?

Alright, I’m getting off track.

So, back then I had this plot bunny for an otaku senshi. They weren’t known as otaku senshi yet, but whatever. I keep getting off track.

My senshi was thought up around 98-99 but she didn’t begin to take form until about 2000, when they began showing Sailor Moon on the telly. She didn’t have a name either, until around April 2006, and was only known as Sailor Sun. I know it’s unoriginal, but at the time I didn’t think there were senshi from other galaxies as they never showed the Stars season.

I developed her more fully last year, I believe, just because I don’t like having undeveloped characters. Even if I’m never going to give them life.

She then, surprise of all surprises, became Raiden’s great grandmother. Raiden being my baby, then, and only original character. I didn’t like her for a while, she was meant to be a Mary Sue, but I grew to love her when she began developing on her own. Raiden did that by taking over my brain! She became Soleil and I called her the ‘forgotten princess’.

Now. Why am I babbling about this? Well, because yesterday I was reading over my notes and bunnies, rediscovering her. I realized that I had developed her so much, it was almost cruel that I hadn’t give her life (i.e. written a fic about her). I had planned a three part story where she integrates herself into the Senshi team, then began throwing in twists (I’m well-known for my never ending twists).

I was hit by the sudden urge to fulfill Soleil’s ‘dreams’ and began the process of creating a website. After much toil, I decided to mix and match ideas: from Sigsource;I liked the header logo and sidebar, from RedDragon; I decided to use the diagonal background pattern but couldn’t get it to work properly, I had to give it a ‘fixed’ position which I hate. Most inspiration came from Sonia’s blog; as you can see if you compare. For the moment, the above image is just a psd, I plan on changing things so it’ll look better. This version of the site was meant to work with Wordpress, but I haven’t actually decided yet. Plus, there is no soleil.co.uk, or if there is, it’s not mine and it’s not going to be. I just couldn’t fit in reinscape.co.uk on there.

The image of Eternal Sailor Moon’s abdomen  doesn’t exactly match the rest of the layout either, but I don’t have any Soleil images at the time. I did once upon a time, but I have no idea where they went. I was told they were nice, too.

I’m having a difficult time deciding on the sidebar headings. The speech bubble idea from Sonia doesn’t really fit in, but I had no idea what to do at the time. Well, at the moment I’m rather proud of how it’s looking. Maybe this site will actually get off the ground. In my dreams.

He woke suddenly, almost startled. As though someone had stolen his breath and only just given it back. He also woke to company and to the loud snoring of Orion Adonis Black, who was curled up in an armchair by the fireplace.

Rayn was chewing on a bar of chocolate, gazing at Harry thoughtfully. It was almost as though he didn’t realize Harry had woken. Aragog was nowhere to be seen, though from the cooing and twittering he heard coming from his room, he guessed Leo was doing some entertaining.

“Is there an actual reason for your presence in my rooms?” Harry finally asked, a little out of sorts after what he had seen and Rayn’s strange behavior.

The younger boy snapped out of his daze. He licked his lips, pointing at Harry with his half-eaten chocolate bar. “All better?”

Harry wrinkled his nose at the chocolate. “As better as I’ll be.” Rayn nodded, then stood, making his way out of the room. He stopped when he heard Harry call his name. “Rayn. Thanks.”

Rayn blinked, then smiled warmly. “You did good, Harry. I think you’ll be all right.” He paused, regarding the older boy. “Yes. You’ll be all right.” He left Harry blushing hotly from the scrutiny.

“What was that?” Adon snorted, shifting in the armchair so that he could look at Harry. “He came in here and cast some wonky spell on you. Then leaves as though he’s a bloody hero.”

Chuckling, Harry stood and knocked on his bedroom door. The cooing and twittering stopped suddenly, he shared a look with Adon and stood back as the door swung open. Leoned peered out at them, looking around for -Harry assumed- his brother. Aragog took the time to slide out of the room through the crack in the doorway and all but leaped at Harry, most obviously happy to see him awake.

“I guess everything went all right, then?” Leoned asked cautiously.

“I do believe so,” Harry replied, smiling brightly.

“What do you plan to do now?” wondered Adon, swinging his legs. The look he was giving Harry conveyed what he was thinking, “What do you plan to do about Tom Riddle?”

“Actually, I was thinking I might study for the OWLS,” Harry said.

“The OWLS?” Leo demanded, shocked but not disappointed.

Harry shrugged off-handedly. “I was thinking. If I’m around by the time of the OWLS, that I might try my hand at them. Again. It’s something to do, right? And it would be interesting.”

Leo blinked at his long winded explanation, nodding at the right intervals. “Of course. If that’s what you want to do. You might want to start studying then. Seeing how you’ve hardly attended classes as it is.”

Rolling his eyes, Harry agreed. “I was going to ask Raven to help me.”

Adon snickered, drawing a scowl from the two Potters. “That should go over well.”

Harry was all for studying and learning new things, but at the moment…

Harry yawned. Raven continued lecturing. Harry yawned again. Raven’s eye twitched. Harry opened his mouth only to be smacked by a book on the head.

“Yawn one more time and I’ll sever your tongue!” Raven snapped angrily.

“Sorry,” Harry apologized sheepishly. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Insomnia?” Raven asked, not interested in the least as she tried to find where she left off.

“No, just a bad feeling.”

Raven hummed, looking thoughtful. “Perhaps you should speak to our Divination professor. Bad feelings should never be overlooked.”

Harry goggled her. “You believe in that?”

“Why not? There have been several True Seers in history,” said Raven scathingly. Eyes daring him to contradict her. “It may not be accurate but Divination has its uses. If done properly there’s no reason one can’t predict things.”

Harry took a moment to gape at her again. At first he had thought he’d found another Hermione Granger. But Raven had slowly been proving him wrong. She hated homework and whined about having to do it, she did not like to read and often stared at her book as though willing it to read itself, and she was not very girly. Even with all of that, she still somehow managed to be top of her class.

“Ready to continue?”

“Oh, yes,” Harry started. “We were going over the magical properties of numbers?”

And so continued the week. Harry wondered how Hermione managed to cram so much information into her brain. He found, however, that without Quidditch and other things to distract him, it wasn’t such a hard task as previously foreseen.

Adon, Orion, or whatever he was going by these days, proved to be a very welcome distraction. He had managed to draw Harry into a game that involved Walburga Black and Tom Riddle. The boy-man would publicly attempt to ‘woo’ Harry and his attempts always brought a smile to Harry’s face. It also provided entertainment for others, such as Runako, who had taken to calling Harry his ’sister-in-law’.

It had gotten to the point where Harry didn’t know whether Adon was playing or not. Until one day, out of the blue, Adon had leaned down to plant a gentle kiss on his own parted lips.

The game ended, when Adon had, in the privacy of Harry’s rooms, announced that the kiss had felt very wrong. “Like kissing my sister,” Adon had whined. To which Harry had stupidly replied, “You have a sister?” Afterwards, they had decided to nullify their ‘relationship’ and remain friends. A good laugh was had by all, mostly Adon and Harry as the others didn’t comprehend, and that had been the end of that.

Professor What’s-Her-Name had been excited at the prospect of helping him with his fortune. Harry could tell she was Professor Trelawny’s inspiration. Though she did not dress in the same fashion nor wear large glasses. She also did not predict his death in everything, for which he was extremely grateful. At least there were some miracles in life.

“Let us see here,” she mumbled to herself, tracing Harry’s palm. Harry fidgeted in his seat, attempting to hold back his giggles at the tickling sensation. “Hm. There are strange skips here, almost like altered time.”

Harry began laughing, pulling his hand away from her startled grasp. “Pardon me. That tickles.”

And hour later, Harry had found out three key things: One, someone was out to get him. Two, he was being deceived. Three, he was ticklish. Er, wait. Three, his time was short.

Harry thought number three meant he would be returning home soon, but then realized it probably meant he was going to die soon. Again.

“Did that help you?” asked Raven.

“Not particularly,” Harry admitted, though he didn’t want to disappoint her. “But apparently, I’m going to die soon.”

“Again?” The Ravenclaw shook her head and abandoned him. Harry scowled at her retreating back, having been completely serious despite having had the same thought. He had been very disappointed by Professor What’s-Her-Name. The way Raven had spoken about her, Harry had believed her to be a True Seer.

“There you are!” a familiar voice interrupted his musings. Adon wrapped an arm about his shoulders and pulled him bodily along. Though Harry was happy to see him, especially after the day he’d had, he wasn’t happy at being manhandled. “We’re supposed to go buy dress robes, remember?”

“I thought that was this weekend,” replied Harry in confusion. “I’m going with Leo.”

“Right,” Adon chirped. “And I’m going with you. Octavius got special permission for us four to go into Hogsmeade today! I just need to stop by my room first.”

“Right,” said Harry disbelievingly, crossing his arms and stepping aside. “I find it hard to believe that you don’t have any dress robes.”

Adon chuckled. “I have dress robes. I want to see which ones you buy so I can get something that matches, if need be.”

Harry blinked at him. “Why would you do that?”

The smile that was thrown his way was all predatory and not a bit sorry. “Because I’m your date to the ball!”

“Hello,” Harry said, not particularly interested in the boy.

Cirrus flashed him a smile. “I haven’t seen you around lately.”

“I’ve been catching up with classes,” Harry replied, smiling back thinly. “I’m actually busy right now. Did you need something?”

The boy hesitated briefly then seemed to gather his resolve. “I wanted to ask you to the ball?”

Harry tried not to roll his eyes and hoped he’d succeeded. He shook his head gently, “I’ve already got a date. Sorry.”

“Oh,” Cirrus deflated. “Well, that’s… that’s great. Bloody brilliant.”

“Sorry,” Harry said again.

The venomous look he received threw him off. “I’m sure you are,” agreed Cirrus. Harry frowned, feeling something change in the air. The expression on Cirrus face changed as well, it was almost… cruel. Harry backed away, gripping the railing behind him as the boy advanced on him.

“Oi, what the bloody hell are you doing?” came a very familiar voice. Harry was shocked at how elated he was at hearing said voice, turning almost instantly to face Tom Riddle as he walked up the stairs to join them. “Is there something wrong?”

Cirrus and Tom glared at each other over Harry’s head. Not wanting to stand between them for all the aggression rolling off them, Harry moved away and ran down the stairs. “I’ve got to go buy dress robes in Hogsmeade!” He practically sprinted down to the first floor, almost flying through the air in his haste to get away from them.

He waited by the Great Hall for the other three, behind a pillar and peaking around it every now and then, in case either Tom or Cirrus showed up. Finally, they arrived and the four of them were off to Hogsmeade in a carriage. Thoughts of Tom and Cirrus were forgotten once Harry was made to parade, what felt like, the entire store. Adon sat in a corner, quietly laughing to himself while Leo turned Harry this way and that.

Finally, they all seemed to agree on one of the dress robes. Thankfully, it was one that Harry truly liked and even Octavius, who’d had errands to run, had gushed over how ‘handsome’ Harry looked.

It was almost time for supper when they arrived at the castle. There was a hushed murmur when they entered and Harry could easily see that people were staring at him. So, it wasn’t really a shock when Vincent suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began dragging him off.

“What did I do now?” Harry whined rather pathetically.

Vincent’s lips were pressed together into a tight, thin line. He did not spare Harry a glance as he replied, stiffly, “Riddle got into a fight. He won’t tell us why, but he attacked another student. Broke the bloke’s nose and I don’t even know what Riddle hexed him with.”

“You’re joking!” said Harry, bewildered. “Who?”

“Cirrus Lang,” Vincent said. He stopped in the middle of the hall, grasping Harry’s shoulders, a serious look on his face. “We know it takes a lot to rile Riddle up. He wont tell anyone what Cirrus said or did, but we do know your name came up quite a bit.”

“Bloody hell,” Harry groaned, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “Where’s Tom right now?”

“At the infirmary,” replied Vincent, he hesitated before continuing. “He broke his hand.”

“He used physical force??”

“Shocking but true,” agreed Vincent. He continued leading Harry to the infirmary. “I thought you might want to know. Riddle will be expelled if he doesn’t talk. The Langs are a well off pure-blood family. Riddle has no power, no family-”

Harry laughed humorlessly, throwing Vincent a grim smile. “He has me.” The atmosphere in the infirmary was tense, Tom was sitting on one of the beds, glaring at Dumbledore as the man tried to coarse him into talking.

“Professor,” Harry called. “Could you give us a moment?” Dumbledore smiled and happily allowed Harry to take his seat, dragging a perturbed Vincent out of the room. “How are you?”

“Brilliant,” Tom muttered. “They brought you in as last resort?”

Crossing his arms, Harry glared at him. “You were provoked into physical violence. Whatever did he say to cause such a reaction?”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

“Obviously it does, since it happened after you intervened on my behalf.”

Tom simply shook his head. “Leave it alone.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at the boy intently. “They’ll expel you, you know. Then who will stop Cirrus from harassing me?”

They stared at each other silently, until Harry moved to sit at the head of the bed beside Tom, leaning against him comfortably. “Fine, don’t tell me. But tell Dumbledore or the headmaster, please?”

“I want you to stay,” Tom blurted suddenly. Then abruptly began clearing his throat, face red, as he turned to face Harry, serious. “Are you still going to the dance with Black?”

Harry clucked his tongue. “You’re not off the hook, you know.”

“I’ll talk to the headmaster, if you promise to be my date,” said Tom, cocking an eyebrow inquiringly.

“Is it blackmail Harry Potter day?” mumbled Harry, though he was smiling brightly. “Very well. Since you asked so nicely.”

“Eh?” was Harry’s reply.

“You actually agreed to go to the ball with Tom Riddle?” Adon continued.

Harry paused what he’d been doing, studying, in order to look at the older boy properly. Adon actually looked angry and Harry wondered if maybe… no. “I did. Is that a problem?”

Adon expression darkened, if that was at all possible, then he turned and walked away. Harry made a small noise, dropping his book and running after him. He latched onto the taller boy’s arm, turning him back around. “What’s going on? Why are you angry?”

“How do you know he’s not playing with you, poppet?” Adon demanded suddenly, flinging his arms about in a crazy fashion. Harry stepped back in case he got clobbered.

“I really can look after myself,” Harry replied slowly, his good mood dampening. “Why does everyone seem to think otherwise?”

“Should I make a list?” Adon retorted.

“If you’re angry because I said I’d go with you-”

“That’s not it, poppet!” Adon hissed, ducking inside a classroom and dragging Harry in behind him. “Do you know what he did to Cirrus Lang?” He continued after Harry shook his head. “You don’t want to know, either. I know you can look after yourself, Harry. But not against Tom Riddle.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that when it comes to that boy, you always decide to turn a blind eye!” Adon snapped. He stopped to take a deep breath when Harry jumped at his voice. “Don’t even deny it, baby Potter. Even if you can’t do it for anyone else, you always decide to trust whatever goodness may lie inside Tom bloody Riddle.” Harry remained silent, knowing Adon was right but refusing to agree. “First sign that he’s going to hurt you, you let someone know. Please?”

Harry bit his lip. Then nodded firmly. “I promise that if he tries to do anything to hurt me, I’ll let someone know. Even though I can bloody well defend myself.”

“Good poppet!” Adon cooed mockingly, ruffling Harry’s hair. “I still don’t understand your unwavering trust in Tom Riddle, care to explain?”

“It’s not unwavering,” Harry argued. “I’d just like to give him a second chance. He’s been trying very hard, you know. Well, I guess you don’t know. Most people don’t. He really is a good person, people just don’t give him a chance to prove it.”

Adon rolled his eyes and Harry smiled, remembering that very afternoon;

“I don’t go around randomly killing people, Harry. Shocking as it may seem, I do have other things to do,” Tom mumbled as he idly flipped through pages.

“Why do you keep talking about killing someone?”

“From your reactions, I assumed I’d killed someone you cared about,” said Tom, slowly, unsure of approaching the topic.

Harry closed his eyes, willing himself to remain calm. “Why did you release the basilisk if you didn’t plan on killing anyone?”

“I was experimenting,” argued Tom, shifting uncomfortably in the chair. “That bloke getting petrified was an accident. What the bloody hell was he doing in the girl’s bathroom anyway?” The last was mumbled but Harry was amused by his pouting and the annoyed expression on his face. “I haven’t allowed the basilisk out since then, either, I’ll have you know.”

“Tom, the first time,” Harry said hesitantly. “Who was that girl?”

“Helga Weasley?” Tom said, he looked at Harry imploringly and a little earnestly. “I didn’t mean what I told her. Well, maybe a little at the time.”

Harry chuckled as Tom mumbled the last part once again. Then did an immediate double take. “Helga WEASLEY?”

Tom nodded distractedly. “She’s a Slytherin, seventh year.”

“And yet she thinks she’s your girlfriend?”

“I never pay her any mind, she’s so slow,” Tom shrugged.

“Tom, do you have any friends?”

Tom pressed his lips together into a thin line. “Friends aren’t necessary.” That said, he returned to perusing his book.

Harry gazed at him silently, then snuggled down under the blankets on his long sofa. “I’m your friend.” He proceeded to fall asleep, leaving Tom to gape at him in shock.

He was snapped back to the present by Adon pulling on a strand of his hair. “You’re so adorable when you go off to la-la land.”

Harry grimaced and smacked his hand away. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Probably thinking about Mr.Tom Riddle,” Adon muttered loudly. “I do hope he’s behaving himself.”

“Speak for yourself,” Harry frowned. “You do know you’re skipping class right now, do you not?”

Adon attempted to look innocent. “Am I?”

Harry rolled his eyes, following the older boy out of the classroom and down the hall. His step faltered as he caught sight of someone he hadn’t seen for a while.

Azure Delacour stood talking to Rayn at the top of the stairs. They both grew quiet as Adon bowled past them, flashing each a wide, toothy grin. He didn’t stop, however, continuing down the hall without looking back.

Rolling his eyes at Adon’s retreating form, Harry stopped beside them. “What’s going on?”

Azure scowled, eyeing him up and down with obvious dislike on his pale face. Rayn smiled at him brightly, looking impossibly well rested and happy. Harry could easily see why both Rudo and Runako were so taken with him.

“We’re leaving tomorrow,” replied Rayn, a small smile fleeting across his lips.

“You’re not even staying for the ball?” asked Harry, upset. Though he didn’t particularly care about Azure staying or leaving.

‘We should really be getting back,” murmured Rayn, throwing a questioning look at Azure who glared back archly. The corner of his lips turned down slightly as he turned to Harry, who wasn’t paying attention to him. Wide emerald eyes were gazing at Azure wonderingly.

“What?” Azure demanded, shifting uncomfortably in place.

Harry blinked at him slowly, “I thought you’d left already.” He ignored the scandalized expression on the boy’s face, turning back to Rayn with a grin. “Can I talk to you in private?”

“I guess,” Rayn shrugged, he ignored the look on Azure’s face and followed Harry down the hall. Once they were further down the hall, Harry slowed to his side. “Something wrong?”

“I have questions, that’s all,” Harry responded, grinning. Almost unable to stop himself from smiling. “Well, just one really. Will you tell me everything?”

Rayn hesitated. “Everything?”

“You know, about what you did,” Harry explained. He grabbed the younger boy’s hand, trying to look reassuring, though he probably managed to look like a lunatic instead. “I don’t blame you, I’ll have you know. You didn’t do it to hurt me. You saved me.”

“Did I now?” Rayn mumbled, looking anything but happy.

“Let’s go to my room, then!” exclaimed Harry happily, dragging the boy down the hall and up the stairs.

All of a sudden they were in his room and Harry blinked in confusion. He looked at Rayn questioningly but the younger boy just shook his head, hiding a smile.

I’ll explain everything then,” agreed Rayn. “Sit down, get comfortable. This might take a while… and please, no interruptions.”

“The magic attempted to send your corporal form through time. Without an outer shell, the magic seeped into your being. In order to counter the spell, I asked the headmaster to allow me to cast a blood transfusion spell. It would ground you to me so that you wouldn’t get torn across time.

“I didn’t foresee what would happen. I was the best choice to perform the spell. The veela in me would leach your soul. None of the others could, they’re wizards, only magic. My veela is mostly unaffected by magic, most logical choice at that moment.

“I didn’t know the time spell would suck the veela into you, but it did. Your soul tried to reject the veela, thus you died… sort of. It all happened so fast, we didn’t know what else to do. Didn’t really understand what had happened either.

“Then your anger. It wasn’t really your anger, it was the veela’s anger. He was angry at me, he thought I’d given him up on purpose. He felt out of place and so did you. Azure calls you a monster because he doesn’t understand what you are. Primal instinct tells him that you’re wrong. You’re an anomaly, different, something strange. He doesn’t know, but he will someday. So will you.

“Oh, I’m not finished just yet so don’t start asking questions. I think the veela needed to know everything would be all right. I put you into deep sleep so that you might confront each other. I was hoping things would be resolved if you just accepted this.

“I assume everything’s fine since you are no longer angry with me. Maybe its a bit over the top. Yes, the veela is amplifying your emotions, most likely to show that he forgives me, too.

“That’s all I have, I’m afraid. Anything else that might have happened is not my fault. I don’t know what anyone else has told you, since I wasn’t supposed to tell you anything at all.

“During the time returning spell? Yes. Its possible that you managed to leech magic off others close by. Raven’s ability, I know of. Others you’ll have to check yourself, I’m afraid. Why? Well, because I’ll be returning hom. I’ll not be around any longer. As happy as I am that you’d want me to stay, I can’t. I have to return to school, have a life…”

“Its best if I give you some space,” replied Rayn, trying for a smile but failing miserably by the look on Harry’s face. “The veela. It couldn’t be divided in two, it doesn’t work that way.”

Harry gazed at him, already knowing what was coming but needing to hear it anyway. “You’re…?”

“No longer a veela?” Rayn finished, smiling humorlessly. “Its strange, you know. For as long as I could remember, I’ve always felt torn in two. Now I’m just me. Just… just Rayn.”

“How does that work?” Harry shook his head, feeling a headache coming on.

“Don’t worry about it, Harry,” said Rayn consolingly. “Its all done and over with. I just want to go home.”

“Because you’re afraid?” demanded Harry. “You said that people were only attracted to you because of the veela. Now you have the chance to see if that’s true and you’re running scared.”

Rayn frowned. He seemed to come to some kind of conclusion as he stood, looking Harry in the eye. “I’ll say no more about it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled something out, holding out his hand for Harry to take what was inside. He dropped a small hourglass onto Harry’s outstretched hand. “I found it. Good bye, Harry Potter. It was an honor to meet you.”

And with that, Rayn Loire walked out of Harry Potter’s life.

“I was wondering where you were hiding,” said Harry, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading. A shapeless shadow took the seat across from him, almost blending into the darkness that lingered around the edges of the world.

“You were to look for me, I was waiting,” the shadow replied, sounding petulant.

“Sorry, I’ve never done this before,” said Harry, closing the blank book in his hands and shoving it aside. “Why are most of these books empty?”

The shadow seemed to shrug. “They’re based on your memories. Your memories are very lonely.”

Harry frowned, hearing the note of sadness in the shadow’s voice. They regarded each other silently, though the shadow had no visible face, Harry knew he was being stared at.

“What am I going to do with you?” he mumbled finally, rubbing at his forehead in irritation.

“Are you going to kill me, then?” the shadow asked, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably.

Harry shook his head. “Despite what I may have said in fits of uncontrollable rage, thanks to you, by the way, I would never kill a part of me. Even if you weren’t meant to be a part of me in the first place.”

The shadow shifted, then, becoming almost solid. “Is that true? Really?”

Harry stood. “Let’s take a walk.”

They left the library side by side, almost like they were one person and not two. Faceless students lined the halls, waving and greeting Harry. Though they were ignored for the most part.

Ron and Hermione caught up with him at the bottom of the stairs, demanding to know where he’d been. They had, apparently, been looking for him for a while and had been worried when they couldn’t find him. Harry managed to calm them and slip away with the pretense of having forgotten something.

“For memories, they’re very persistent,” he mumbled.

“They grow stronger the more you think of them,” the shadow replied happily. “That’s why some memories are more easily visible than others.”

“They didn’t notice you.”

“Oh, I’m not part of your memories,” the shadow laughed. “I just linger here.”

“Why?”

The shadow seemed to hunch in on itself. “It’s better than staying in the darkness.”

Harry winced. Feeling, for a moment, a sharp pain in his chest. “I’m sorry.” He meant it, as well, he was startled to realize. “When you say ‘darkness’?”

“It’s a little cliche, yes,” the shadow laughed again. “But its the darkness of your heart.”

“But how do you go there?”

“You mean you don’t know?”

An image crossed Harry’s mind then. Of a darkened corridor with pulsing shadows and voices coming from the dark. “Can we go there?”

“You’re not ready!” the shadow argued, sounding distressed even as its form weaved and shook. “You don’t know what’s in there. Some shadows have been there so long, their anger… It-”

“Calm down,” muttered Harry, wide eyed. A little shaken at the amount of emotion the shadow was showing. “Its alright if you want to stay here, linger in my memories. But I have to face whatever’s in that hallway if I’m ever going to wake up.”

“You’re going alone?” the shadow shrieked. It seemed to shudder then a hand darted forward to grasp Harry’s hand. “I can’t let you go alone. I-I’m going with you!”

Harry chuckled and led the shadow away by the hand. The halls around the darkened corridor were empty and soundless. The shadow was shuddering beside him, attaching itself firmly to his side until Harry thought it was going to blend into him. The darkened corridor seemed to pulse as they approached and the shadows moved along the walls.

“Are you sure?” his companion asked.

“Relax,” Harry snorted, trying to hide a hysterical giggle. No, he was not ready. But the longer he stood there thinking about it, the less likely he’d go through with it. “I don’t know what I’m doing. But I’m going to do it.”

His companion nodded briefly, then did a double take. “You don’t-”

And Harry walked into the darkened corridor.

“What is this?” Harry demanded, looking around in furious shock. “We’re back in the same corridor.”

His shadowy companion pulled on his arm. “Do you know the story of “Alice Through the Looking Glass”?”

“Please don’t tell me I walked through a mirror,” Harry whined.

The shadow laughed. “No, no. I was just going to use it as an example. See, your heart is divided into two, maybe three, spaces. Light, Darkness, and sometimes there’s something in-between.”

“So, my mind is…”

“It’s projecting images in a way you’ll understand,” said the shadow. “Your memories and in this world, the opposite.”

“Obviously,” muttered Harry, rolling his eyes at the stupidity of it all. “What’s in the in-between?”

The shadow moved away, a little reluctantly and shrugged. “I haven’t found it.”

“So for me, there’s only good and bad, light and dark?”

The corridor was empty, not even shadows formed from the lights shining from torches. They walked through the halls in silence for a while. His companion was confused, Harry observed it for a moment, as it
seemed to turn its ‘head’ from side to side. He could almost feel the confusion rolling off the shadowy form at his side. It was disconcerting.

“I don’t understand,” the shadow said finally. “They’re gone. The other shadows aren’t here.”

“That’s wonderful,” replied Harry with forced cheer. “Maybe they’re all waiting somewhere to ambush us.”

“Ambush us with what?” asked the shadow, confused. “They can’t hurt you, you know. They’re not corporal and you give them life.”

Harry scratched the back of his neck, thoughtful. He eyed his shadow, then, “You ran away from here… because they hurt you, right?”

“Eh?”

“You said they can’t hurt me, but you didn’t say they can’t hurt you,” continued Harry, nodding as though he had it all figured out. Which, the shadow thought a little petulantly, he probably did. They stopped before the doors of the Great Hall, turning to face each other. “You know, I thought you would prove to be more trouble than you’re worth. You’re always in the back of my mind, talking about something or other. Making snide comments and riling me up.”

“Sorry,” the shadow muttered, wiggling about like a worm. “I can’t help it.”

“I didn’t like it, in the beginning,” Harry continued, head cocked as he gazed at the shadow almost… fondly. “But I think… I think I can get used to it.”

The shadow wobbled from side to side for a moment. “Thank you,” it said before vanishing into the air.

You need to find the door. Find the door, Harry.

“Where is it?” Harry wondered, looking around the empty corridors. The edges were tearing away now, the light was brighter, and the shadows were returning. “Where’s the door!?”

Go Harry. The darkest corner of your heart. The door.

Harry mumbled and muttered to himself as he stalked through the halls. The shadows were growing thicker, they weaved in and out of his way. Some of the shadows clung to him, as though they didn’t want him to go. “You’re all pretty clingy for being bad memories.”

‘The door’ was surrounded by shadows. There was light peaking from the sides and the keyhole. Aside from that, it looked like any of the other doors. As he got closer, however, he was able to make out words carved into the wood. “Hoc est corpus meum,” he read. The shadows moved back and away from him. “This is my body.”

He reached forward, grasped the doorknob, and pulled the door open.

Hermione was seating on chair beside the hospital bed. Ron was leaning against the wall by a small window on the far side of the room. There was a person on the bed, still and pale.

Harry’s hand hovered over the form on the bed, pushing  back dark strands of hair and rubbing gently at the scarred forehead. He smiled thinly, trailing his fingers down an arm until they came in contact with Hermione’s hand. He regarded her form silently.

She was leaning forward in her chair, elbows on the edge of the bed as she grasped the comatose boy’s hand in hers. Her face was red and blotchy, puffy from recent crying. Ron was no better. His face was expressionless, his freckles seemed to stand out against his pale face. His hair was up and in disarray, his clothes wrinkled from obvious overuse.

Harry leaned back, away from Hermione as she sat up and looked around in confusion. She dropped the hand in hers and flexed her fingers, staring at her hand in wonder. Harry reached forward and grasped her hand once more, smiling when Hermione jumped in her seat, eyes wide.

“I’m here, Herm,” he whispered. “Please see me.”

“Harry?” she whispered back, looking around in confused wonder. Ron startled, stretching and moving to her side. He watched her grasping at the air like a lunatic for a while before taking her hand in his and petting her hair gently. “I felt him. He’s here, Ron. Harry’s here.”

“Of course he is, silly,” Ron replied, nodding at the figure on the bed. “He’s been here for a while. Remember?”

“I felt, his presence, Ron,” she argued. “I know I did.”

“Is it still here?”

Hermione closed her eyes, concentrating on finding the feeling she’d lost mere moments before but could not. “Not anymore.”

Ron cocked his head, as though listening to something. “Almost like…”

“… Saying goodbye,” finished Hermione, leaning against him as she began crying once again.