Of Butterflies in a Hurricane

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Rose turned around from the door to face Harry, who still sat on the bed. He was beginning to seriously doubt his decision of letting her come in. Unfortunately, he had always been too polite for his own good, due mainly to the Dursley's insistence that he be as "normal" as possible.

Rose crossed the room, sitting down on the bed in front of Harry, one leg curled underneath her while the other hung over the side. She turned to him, her long, blond hair falling gracefully over her shoulder. She held Harry's gaze for a moment until Harry felt the urge to look away.

"You are troubled," Rose said quietly, her soft, melodious voice floating into Harry's ears.

"No'm not," he mumbled, not looking at her.

"'Arry, zere is no need to 'ide it," she said quietly.

Harry looked up at her carefully. He didn't know what to make of her. The way she looked at him, it was like she knew things the others didn't. "I'm not hiding anything," he said, a little more defiantly. He didn't like the idea of a girl he barely knew trying to tell him he was hiding something.

"You are meesing 'im," she said softly.

Harry's eyes shot wide open. "Who?" he asked stupidly, though he knew very well who. But how did she know?

Rose gave him a sympathetic smile and reached out, taking Harry's hand in hers. She turned it over and ran her finger down the line Harry knew to be his love line. He had learned that in Divination; one of the few things he remembered. He frowned down at his palm, wondering what she knew.

"'E is safe, for now," she said quietly, staring at the palm. "But zere are difficult times ahead."

"What are you talking about? And wh-who are you talking about?" Harry was beginning to become unnerved as she ran her manicured finger over his love-line.

"'E is waiting," she said, speaking quietly. "You are lucky, 'Arry."

"Lucky? Why? Who are you talking about?" He would not admit to anything. Not even Ron or Hermione knew about what had happened between him and Draco. He wasn't about to tell a complete stranger about it.

"You know 'oo, 'Arry," she said, her voice suddenly serious and colder than before. She looked up at him, her bright blue eyes locking with his own. "You love 'im."

"You mean...?" Harry was in complete shock. How did she know?!

"Oui, I know."

"B-but... but how?" he stuttered.

She broke her gaze with him, looking back at his hand that was still in hers. She turned it back over, stroking it softly as though contemplating it. She paused for a moment while Harry waited impatiently.

"I am a Seer. I 'ave zee ability to see into people's mind. I can see past, present, sometimes ze future."

Harry was silent for a moment, relative disbelief soaking through him. She was a Seer? He'd had experiences with Seers before and they never seemed quite legitimate.

"That sounds like Legilimency," Harry said, trying not to sound disrespectful, knowing that Seers disliked being contradicted.

"I do not need a spell to See. Eet is a natural gift," she said and Harry continued to look skeptical. "You do not believe me."

"Well, I--" Harry said but couldn't force himself to say he really believed her. He believed in prophecies, yes, but actual day-by-day predictions?

"Geev me your uzzer 'and," she commanded him, holding hers out. He lifted his carefully and placed it, palm down, on her hand.

She shifted herself and closed her eyes. Harry thought it must not be Legilimency if she could have her eyes closed.

He had just begun to wonder what she was doing when he felt a hot tingling on the bottom of his palms as if magic was rushing through them. He nearly jerked his hands away at the new sensation but forced himself to remain.

He glanced up cautiously at Rose, who still had her eyes closed. He decided it might be better, or at least less awkward, if he closed his as well.

As soon as he did so, he felt a rush of memories rise to the surface of his mind. It didn't feel like it had when Snape had been teaching him Occlumency. It was more a leisurely stroll through random thoughts and memories.

Harry couldn't tell exactly what he was seeing as it seemed blurry. He couldn't feel Rose's presence in his mind like he had expected either. It was merely as if he was watching a fuzzy dream that continued to shift.

One sharp picture appeared in his mind and he gasped, retracting his hands from Rose's as though he'd been burned. He opened his eyes to find her watching him intently. Her blue eyes burned into his skin; a clear, ice blue.

"'E is waiting," she said once again, in a soft yet deceiving voice. "But you 'ave much to do."

Harry looked up at her, seeing the understanding in her eyes. He knew she saw it from his point of view. She did not hate him for loving the enemy. She was on his side.

Just then, Ron burst through the door. "Harry! Mum sent me t--" He cut himself off abruptly as he caught sight of Rose sitting on the bed. "I'll just come back later, shall I?" he said and backed out of the room.

Rose turned back to Harry, a sad smile on her face. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up. She walked across the room and placed her hand on the door knob. She paused before opening it and looked back to him.

"Good bye, 'Arry," she said quietly, turning the knob and vanishing out the door.

Harry sat on the bed in utter shock. He had never imagined that Fleur's sister could be a Seer. He shook his head sharply, the feeling that there were too many memories teeming at the surface making it hard to concentrate.

Harry glanced over at his trunk and had a sudden idea. He crawled down the end of the bed and flipped it open, pulling the Pensieve out of it. He set it on the bed and bit his lower lip worriedly.

He had never known exactly how to put memories in the Pensieve. He figured it must be to concentrate on a specific memory then pull it away. The problem was that he could not focus on any memory. He didn't know what half of them were.

He decided that he might chance it. He raised his wand tentatively and placed it to his temple. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to concentrate on attaching the memories. He pulled the wand away and, to his surprise, a long, thin, silvery strand of memory was attached to it.

His heart gave an exalted leap as he lowered it into the basin. The memory swirled but did not rise to the surface, instead falling to the bottom it seemed. Harry did this until most of the random memories had been placed in the Pensieve. His head felt much lighter without all the extra thoughts.

With the last memory, he placed the Pensieve back in his trunk. He had just snapped the top shut and locked it, now using magic for the first time; he felt a sense of pride when the lock glowed yellow and rattled a tiny bit, when Ron burst back into the room.

He walked over to Harry, a maniacal grin on his face. Harry gave him a confused look as he continued to grin.

"Harry," he said in a sly voice, “you and Rose? I wouldn't have guessed. Ginny will be furious. Maybe you shouldn't mention it."

"Er..." Harry said. It didn't occur to him to put Ron right so he just let him go on. "Yeah, I'll keep it quiet."

As he watched Ron walk around the room, talking about something or other, Harry wondered if it would be possible to leave that night. Maybe he ought to leave without Ron and Hermione... He gave an internal sigh, knowing that it was impossible. If he did, they would just hunt him down anyway. He just didn't want anyone else to be hurt any more than necessary. Draco was already in grave danger because of him.

"Harry, it's time for dinner," Ron said, breaking once more into Harry's thoughts.

"Alright," Harry agreed, standing up.

As they left the room, Harry looked back to where his trunk stood at the foot of his bed, wondering what exactly Rose had seen.

They walked into the kitchen to find it full to bursting with everyone ready to wish Harry a happy birthday one last time. They sat down to a groaning table and Harry felt marginally happy as he ate with everyone, trying to repress the horrible feeling that kept welling up every time he would remember that this was probably the last time they would all be together like that.

He glanced over at Rose once to find that she was not looking at him. She was engaged in conversation with Fleur, and Harry didn't understand a word of the French. He turned to find Ginny frowning at him. He tried to give her a sad smile but she didn't respond, only looked away.

He didn't understand. She had seemed to understand perfectly well when he had broken up with her. Of course, he hadn't given her the real reason as to why, but he thought what he had said had been a good enough reason. Since then, though, she had seemed to become more resentful as time went on. He wished he could explain everything to her but knew she would kill him for using her like he had.

After dinner was over, the guests slowly began to leave, their goodbyes seeming almost bitter sweet. Harry saw most of them off then excused himself from the table, once again retreating upstairs to be alone.

As he left, Ron and Hermione exchanged a look behind his back.

He trudged up the stairs and into the room. He stood facing his trunk, steeling himself. He knew he had to do it. There was no option of not doing it. Every day spent without Draco was an agonizing notch in his world. Every day lived knowing that Voldemort was still out there, killing innocent people simply for fun, clenched at Harry's stomach. Knowing that Snape was still roaming free somewhere after killing Dumbledore filled Harry with rage.

He knew he had to do it. There was no other choice and he wouldn't have it any other way. He had to find Draco, find the Horcruxes, revenge Dumbledore, kill Voldemort.

Harry took one last steeling breath before he reached down, unlocking his trunk and flipping it open. He grabbed out a small bag and placed it on the bed. From the trunk, he removed Fleur's birthday gift, along with the Weasley twin's gift, a few change of clothes, several books he was sure to need, his Invisibility Cloak and his bag of money. He shrunk everything and placed it carefully in the bag.

Lastly, he removed the Pensieve, waving his wand over it so as to seal it and then he shrunk it too, placing it in the bag along with the rest of his possessions. He stood looking around the bright orange room, wondering if he would ever see it again.

He gave a tremendous start as the door was thrown open, bouncing off its hinges. He whipped around, his heart pounding in his chest. He was relieved to see that it was only Ron and Hermione.

"You guys scared me," he said, turning back around to look at the bag on his bed.

"Well, you shouldn't be trying to sneak off without us," Hermione replied, her hands on her hips.

"I wasn't doing that," Harry sighed.

"Sure looks like it," Ron said casually, eyeing Harry's bag and open trunk.

"You know you wouldn't let me get away with that," Harry said, attempting humor.

Hermione looked at him worriedly and moved around beside him. "Harry, we're coming with you. We're here for you."

"I know you are," he said softly. "I just-- I don't want you to get hurt."

"Well, if we do, then it's our own fault," Ron said matter-of-factly, and Harry nearly laughed.

"You don't know what you're getting into," he said, looking at the pair of them sadly. He didn't want anymore people hurt than was necessary.

"When have we ever?" Hermione asked, giving him a small smile. "Don't worry, Harry. We'll always help you."

Harry looked down at his bag and sighed. If only they knew the truth. What would they think if he told them about Draco and what had really happened at the Tower? Would they still be so quick to support him? They had never been so supportive of Draco, even when he had left them alone the entire last year.

"Yeah," Harry agreed softly. He was caught by surprise as Hermione hugged him suddenly. He stayed awkwardly still until she released him.

"Well, mate," Ron said, once she had stepped back; he had actually seemed oddly unperturbed by Hermione's show of affection. "I guess me and Hermione have got some packing to do."

Harry couldn't help but smile slightly as Hermione left and Ron began to throw things into a pile to shrink later. He finally felt like something was going right for once, though he knew it could not last forever, and, indeed, it wouldn't.


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A/N: Thank you for reminding me what a wonderful site this used to be :) I only hope we can continue on in the same reader/reviewer spirit :)