───THE SILVER HARE was none other than another student, who appeared younger than Saros, but wore a kind smile on her face in greeting. She addressed him by name as others had done previously, but there seemed no pressure on Saros to respond. As she gazed up at him, she appeared patient as if it was solely up to him whether to greet her in return and if he chose not to, there was a promise in her eyes that told him she wouldn't be offended. Of all things for her to comment on, she had taken to using his height as her opening line.

His eyes trailed down from her eyes back to the bracelet on her wrist, knowing that the other one was still hidden away in his trunk. It couldn't be a coincidence, it was far too convenient for him to believe otherwise.

"Are you A.S.?" he questioned. "Are you the one who told me to find the Silver Hare? That's you, isn't it?"

Her head turned to the side with a curious glint reflecting in the light of the lanterns before there was a small shake. "A.S?" she repeated. "I'm not sure who that is, but I like their name. Short and simple if you ask me. If that's your way of asking my name, it's Luna Lovegood. I think it's safe to say that your memories still aren't back, are they, Saros?"

Standing completely still, he repeated the name Luna Lovegood in his head over and over, in hopes that something would be revealed by it. He had been so focused on attempting to find a memory with her that he didn't notice Luna abandon her magazine for a moment as she stood up. She walked over to where he stood and without warning, Saros suddenly found the front of his shirt lifted up, bringing the cold air to certainly get a reaction out of him.

Before he could question just what the hell did she think she was doing, she lowered his shirt back down and stepped away with a shake of her head.

"I think it's also safe to say that you weren't eating very much over the summer," she said, " you're thinner too."

Saros was speechless as Luna proceeded to rummage through her back that hung off her shoulder and proceeded to pull out a small package of biscuits to hand over to him. He was readily about to deny until she placed them into his hand directly without a warning.

"You don't eat very much, if at all when you're stressed," she began, " that's not very good for you. I made those myself!"

Just in the little interaction, it seemed Luna did know quite a bit about him, as Saros knew very well that he was prone to skip meals if he felt stressed, mainly because he didn't think his stomach would be able to manage to hold anything down. Not to mention, the smell of the biscuits were enticing and he realised with a growl of his stomach, just how little he had been in taking over recent times.

All the words of caution that his parents and brother had given him before leaving to the train station, seemed to leave his mind momentarily as he stood with Luna. The annoyed feeling with the Weasleys, the fluttery feeling with Angelina, and now, all he could feel was a sense of comfort when he stood in front of the girl that he didn't recognise. He remembered Draco telling him to avoid certain people such as Hermione Granger because she "wasn't good enough" to be associated with, but there had been no mention of Luna Lovegood.

Saros knew he was expected to return to Draco and the others after his small meeting with Angelina, but for the time being, he found himself wanting to stay near Luna. Her involvement seemed a lot more personal as she seemed to worry about such things like his weight and whether he was eating enough during stressful times.

"You knew me?" he asked her hesitantly. "You knew me before my accident?"

"No," Luna said with a shake of her head, leaving Saros confused until she continued on, " I knew you before you were attacked."

Her use and emphasis of the word "attacked" certainly held Saros' attention right away as he stared at her wide-eyed. All the while in the company of his family, they had used the word "accident" carefully to tiptoe around the situation that had fallen upon him. It was the first time that Saros had heard it described differently. He still didn't know what exactly fell upon him but it seemed Luna did, or at least, she had a side of the story. After begging his family to be honest with him with no avail, Saros had someone who sounded like they were ready to give him some information.

"What can you tell me about the attack?" he questioned, peering down at the biscuits in hand as his stomach continued to growl loudly. "What do you know of it? Please-"

"I don't think it would be fair for me to say, Saros," Luna told him, "simply because I wasn't there. But I know someone who was there with you. We were sitting in the compartment together before I saw you go by."

Just as he was about to question who Luna was referring to, it seemed he didn't have to bother as Luna reached out and took his free hand in hers. For a moment, he considered pulling away, but Saros couldn't bring himself to do it, allowing her to lead the way. And she was turning out to be quite the character as she started skipping along and humming happily, leaving behind her copy of The Quibbler as they moved on.

As he walked along, Saros could already hear Draco's scolding tone echoing in his ear, along with his parents' warnings. All of them telling him to stick to the people he had come to know over the summer as others would more than likely just lead him to trouble. Of course, he wanted to believe them, they were his family after all, but it was the letter provided by A.S. that had left a hint of doubt in his head. Not to mention, his frustration of not knowing things had left him fed up and he was willing to listen to just about anybody if they were going to give him the information he sought out.

Luna led him until they came upon a compartment and thankfully during their short travels, they did not pass the compartment that contained Draco and the others or Saros would have never heard the end of it. She slid open the door, allowing Saros to peer in and immediately, he found gazes peering back at him, looking just as surprised as he was.

He recognised Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley from the prefect carriage and suddenly, he wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to go through with his previous idea. But there wasn't much of an option as Luna pushed him inside without warning.

Stumbling forward, Saros nearly lost his balance but was able to catch himself just before he fell. But it placed him in front of a boy with messy black hair, bright green eyes and round-rimmed glasses that looked as though he hadn't been able to sleep all summer with the bags under his eyes. No time was wasted as Luna decided to give introductions and Saros quickly learned the name of the boy before him.

Harry Potter.

It was a good idea that he was advised to sit because Saros suddenly felt weak as he stood. He brought himself to sit down, next to a boy with a rather round face and a nervous smile, who scooted to the side. Luna sat with him as well, still holding onto his hand, now with both of hers as Saros remained completely blank in the face.

"Luna, what are you doing?" Hermione asked, as Saros' gaze glanced over and spotted another Weasley, more than likely the youngest and the only girl sitting across the way. "He shouldn't-"

"Saros wanted to hear about the attack and I did not want to give false information. He should hear it from Harry, after all, he did say please."

The look on Hermione's face seemed she was unable to come up with a counter-argument, which left the compartment silent and all eyes darting back and forth between Harry and Saros. He didn't know what he was getting himself into but even if what he was about to hear was biased or maybe inaccurate, it was something, which was more than what his family had given him all summer in their company. Saros couldn't keep waiting with the hope that his memories would return, he needed something.

"Please," he repeated, feeling Luna's hand tighten around his briefly, " please, just someone tell me something here. Right now, I don't care who the lot of you are, what your blood status is, or anything of the sort, I just want to know what the hell happened to me. I want to know why people know my name but I know nothing about them. I want to know why I feel certain things without an explanation or any memories...I need...I need help."

Desperation was certainly kicking in faster than Saros initially anticipated. It was true, he didn't care who his company was at the moment, just as long as they had something to share. He remembered that he wasn't to associate himself with "mudbloods" and "blood-traitors" but at that moment, he didn't really give a fuck if they had something he wanted.

All eyes landed on Harry, waiting to see if he would give up an explanation, and after a bout of silence, he finally spoke.

"How much do you know about the Dark Wizard name Voldemort?" Harry questioned. "Better yet, how much are you aware of your family's involvement with him?"

It was difficult for people like Hermione, who knew Saros and had been closer with him compared to some of the others in the compartment, just to see how lost Saros appeared. The mentioning of Voldemort didn't cause him to flinch or look away, it didn't seem to register anything on his mind. How odd it was for her to witness him appear so clueless when she had admired what a sharp mind Saros' had possessed. When he gave a shake of his head, revealing that he practically knew nothing, Harry wasted no time cutting to the chase.

After losing hours and hours of sleep over the summer, wondering if Saros was dead or if something else had happened to him, Harry had been more than relieved to discover that Saros was alright, or as okay as he was going to be under the circumstances. But when members of the Order had learned just what the Malfoys were doing to him, Harry was infuriated. The Malfoys were trying to dig their claws back into Saros, taking advantage of his fragile mental state in order to bring him back to them.

They were telling countless lies and yet, it was Harry who had been deemed as the liar to the public eye about Voldemort's return.

Harry wouldn't say that he and Saros had been close before the event in the graveyard but Saros had nearly sacrificed himself completely in order to help Harry. Now that Harry had the opportunity to help him, he couldn't just let it slip through his fingers. Perhaps it was advised by the Healers to let memories return on their own accord, but that was already taking too long. Lies were already being implanted in Saros' head and information as being withheld. If he never got his memories back, he was only going to hear the story from the Malfoys side and that wasn't fair.

Seeing how Saros' absence affected those he cared about, Harry was willing to do whatever he could to help, so he laid everything out for Saros.

Saros had been listening for the most part when it came to everything, how he had challenged his family's views and beliefs, which led to the relationship to become strained. Hermione butted in about the disownment, revealing that Saros' own parents had sent him all of his belongings back to him to ostracise him from the family. They spoke about how Saros reached out to Sirius and Andromeda, members of his family that had been disowned prior to him for sharing the same views as Saros.

There was so much going on for Saros to take in, especially as he tried to wrap his head around the concept of the Triwizard Tournament and his involvement. But it all came down to one moment when Harry took it upon himself to reveal something that personally struck Saros too hard.

"...it was a portkey, it brought us out to a graveyard where Voldemort was brought back, but because your father is a Death Eater, he was summoned too," Harry said, " and Voldemort ordered him to kill you because you were a blood traitor-"

Suddenly, Saros had enough as he rose to his feet, breaking his hand away from Luna's and shaking his head. "No, you're wrong," he stated to Harry directly, " you're wrong. My father is not....he wouldn't...he wouldn't..."

"You're right," Harry said, " he didn't try to kill you, he wanted to protect you, but that doesn't mean, he wasn't a Death Eater-"

"YOU'RE LYING!"

The compartment became silent and there was a half-crazed look to Saros, who refused to come to terms with the idea of his father being a Death Eater, especially after what he had just been told about them. Going out and attacking people, killing them, all because their blood wasn't pure enough. His family had warned him that people were going to try and manipulate him, tell him things that weren't true in order to get him onto their side, but he didn't think they would go so far.

"Saros," Hermione spoke, " I know it's a lot to take in, especially since your family has been there for you all summer, but it is true. You knew this before the attack happened, you were conflicted at first, but you knew it was wrong, that's why you separated yourself from your family. It wasn't easy at all for you, but you still did it because you knew what was right."

"What do you know, you're just a fi...you're a...."

He couldn't bring himself to say it, despite his family being able to use the term "mudblood" with ease, Saros couldn't do it.

Turning away from the group, he made his way to the door to leave them, not ready to face what they were saying, not sure if he should even try to believe them.

"Can't you see that they're trying to help you?" Ginny chimed in after the group seemed to be losing their hold on Saros. "What does it benefit them to lie to you?"

"Ginny, please-" Hermione tried to get her to stop but Ginny Weasley was not one to be silenced so easily.

"No, because he hasn't just affected you all, but my family too. He was friends with my brothers and they were upset about what happened. Maybe you all weren't aware but I've never seen Fred and George so quiet over the course of this summer. They missed him, Angelina missed him, you all did, and here is acting like this. Like you all have something to gain by lying to him!"

Not willing to hear anymore, Saros slid open the door of the compartment, he wasn't sure where he was going. He didn't want to stay in the compartment where everyone was telling him that his family had nearly gotten him killed and he didn't want to go to the compartment with Draco so that he could convince him that the rest of the world was out to get him. The two sides were telling different stories but one thing they had in common, is they all claimed to have his best interest at heart.

But who was he supposed to believe when he didn't have the memories to back any of them up?

Suddenly, the sharp pang returned, followed by a flash of light that damn near blinded him. It was enough to bring him down to his knees over the compartment's threshold, alarming the others still inside. They rose to their feet, watching as he gripped the sides of his head and started screaming. Other doors to compartments opened at the sound of the screams, with students trying to figure out what was going on.

Overwhelming was a term too light to describe what was taking place inside of Saros' mind. There was too much happening too fast and he feared this was what the Healers had attempted to warn him about when it came to information being relayed too quickly. He collapsed to the ground seconds later, his screams cut off abruptly as he hit the floor, face first and fell completely still.

Luna stepped forward first, with a frown on her face and tears in her eyes that had been brought on by the sound of Saros' painful screaming. She took a few steps forward and knelt down at his side, placing her hand over his head, only to feel the sweat from his skin drench her own palm.

"Saros?"