I’m the courageous fire You’re the one to control me I am a blossoming flower. You are the thirst of the flower.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The next day, Willow spent her entire time in the library in a corner section where no one was there. She skipped breakfast with her friends for the first time. But, that doesn't mean Willow's in fasting or something. Thanks to the chocolates given to her by her dad.

"So, I need answers," Willow started off as she crossed her arms. James, Ruby, and Lily sat opposite to her as they had a grin.

"Shoot your questions, love," Ruby said.

"How come I'm the only person who's able to see you both?" She asked.

"Because, eversince you were a kid, you've always had a desire to see your mother. . ." Ruby started off. Willow shook her head.

"No, I never -"

"You never showed it out, but deep inside, you always missed your mother." Ruby chimed in as she silenced Willow. "You had that deepest desire deep in your heart to see your mother,"

"But, isn't she supposed to be. . . Here?" Willow whispered.

"Oh, she left,"

"What?"

"Nowadays even we're unable to see her,"

"How did my dad and mum meet?" Willow asked curiously as Ruby smiled fondly whereas James smirked.

"Oh! That's a good question," Ruby said, rubbing her hands excitedly.

"El! Stop!" Eleven year old Ruby chased Eleanor in the common room. Eleanor giggled as she stopped her tracks and gasped heavily for air. Within no time, Ruby reached her best friend as she slapped her arm playfully.

"Don't do, you dare say anything to Sirius!" Shs warned him as Eleanor stuck her tongue out.

"I will say! 'Sirius, I'm crazily in love with you!' " Eleanor exclaimed as Ruby blushed furiously. She thanked merlin that no one was there in the common room.

"Shut up!" Ruby yelled as her ears went red in embarrassment. Seeing this, Eleanor giggled as she interlocked her hands behind her back and walked backward with a playful smile.

"I'm gonna go and say Sirius that you have a crush on him!" Ruby immediately started running towards her. Eleanor shrieked and turned around, only to bump into someone and fall down with a thud. Ruby's eyes widened as she stood in front of Eleanor and carefully made her stand properly.

Eleanor rubbed her back as she had a frown on her face. She stared at the person who pushed her down unintentionally. 

"Remy! Watch where you're going!" Ruby said angrily as Remus scoffed in response and flickered her forehead, to which Ruby winced.

"I'm older than you, dumbarse, give some respect, " he said and glanced at Eleanor, ignoring his sister's glare.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Eleanor nodded her head with doe eyes, which made Remus smile softly. She looked so cute. He nodded his head and left that place before ruffling his sister's hair.

"Don't do that!" She said, but he left.

"Is that your brother? " Eleanor asked  as Ruby nodded her head.

"Yeah," she said grumpily.

"He looks so cool!" Eleanor whispered as Ruby scoffed. " I guess he's best friends with Sirius. I'm gonna go -"

"Oh, don't you dare!"

"Was that how my parents met?" Willow asked in an amusing way. James nodded his head as Ruby smiled softly. 

"Yeah. . ."

"Then how come I'm able to see you guys?" Willow asked.

"Last year, you were curious about me, you remember? You always talked about me to Sirius. . ." Suddenly, Ruby's voice faded a little as she clenched her fist.

"Since you had that desire, now you're able to see us as well as other spirits," Ruby clarified as Willow nodded her head understandingly. 

"If that's the case, then I'm glad to see you all," Willow said in a low voice as she beamed at them. They melted at her smile as they controlled themselves from doing anything stupid.

"But, I'm gonna have some rules and conditions," Willow stated.

"Whatever you say, honey," Lily said.

"Rule one, never step into my bedroom or bathroom unless I say so." The trio nodded their heads as Willow smiled a little. " and Rule two. . . Don't. . . Come whenever I'm with Harry or doing - well, you know what I'm trying to say. "

"Oh, totally!" James said with a smirk as Willow's cheeks went red.

"Yeah, so, that's it. . ." Willow trailed on. "And, can I say this to my friends and Harry? I don't want them to be left idle because they were with me eversince I wa--"

"You needn't clarify to me, Willy, it's a good thing I'd say rather than keeping it to yourself and making others to suffer," Ruby said with a sad smile as Willow nodded her and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank you,"

━。゜✿ฺ✿ฺ゜。━

After bunking half a day by staying in the library, Willow decided to head to her last class, Defense Against Dark Arts.  While heading,  she could see Ruby, James and Lily were following her, which made Willow to smile a little.

From far, she saw her friends and boyfriend talking to eadhother. A wide grin was plastered on her lips, but that faded when she saw another person heading towards them, well, particularly towards Harry.

Cho Chang.

Willow could see that Cho was talking about something to Harry. A part of her was happy to see Cho being normal after Cedric's death, but another part of her was not happy seeing Cho with Harry, because of previous year.

"Something's burning. . ." James teased as Ruby slapped his arm playfully. Willow ignored those thoughts and tried to smile.

"Guys!" She yelled as she ran towards them and gasped for air as soon as she reached them.

"Breath, merlin. Where were you from the morning? I couldn't see you anywhere," Ron said as the quartet entered the classroom. Willow controlled her smile.

"There's something that you guys should know," Willow said as she took a seat, followed by Harry and Hermione, who sat beside her whereas Ron took a seat beside Hermione.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Tonight, after the curfew," she whispered excitedly as Hermione chuckled softly. Willow looked aside to see Harry zoning out. She frowned at his behavior as she shook his arm a little which made him to come out of the trance.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Willow whispered as Harry heaved a sigh.

"Sean's thinks that staying with me is dangerous for him, which is totally bizarre. Voldemort's back but no one is believing me! " Harry whispered in a frustrated way. Willow tilted her head as she smiled softly.

"We can't expect everyone to believe us, Harry. Those who truly love you will definitely trust you no matter what," Willow said as Harry's gaze flickered over eyes.

"So, you love me?" He asked to which Willow's eyes widened in surprise. Heat rushed to her cheek at the way Harry stared at her, her heart was thumping against her chest faster. She really, really, really,  like  Harry. But, love?

Maybe, yes. . .

Harry's lips curved up in a satisfied smile as Willow raised an eyebrow.

"What's with that smile?" She asked.

"I got the answer to my question," Harry whispered amongst the students chit-chat.

"What? But, I didn't say anything," she mumbled. Harry interlaced his fingers with hers under the table as he softly caressed her hand using his thumb.

"You needn't say anything. It's pretty obvious,"

Willow's heart skipped a beat as she looked down at their intertwined hands and smiled.

"Look at my son! He has got my genes after all!" James exclaimed in an exciting way as Willow controlled a laugh.

"Let's leave them alone, it's in the rule," Lily said as James sighed sadly, as the trio vanished.

But their lovely moment was interrupted by a sound of heals clanking against the floor which irritated Willow. She 'tch'ed as she looked aside to see Umbridge standing in front of the with a smile, which looked fake.

“Well, good afternoon!” she said

A few people mumbled “Good afternoon,” in reply.
“Tut, tut,” said Professor Umbridge. “That won’t do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply ‘Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.’ One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!”

“Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge,” they chanted back at her.

“There, now,” said Professor Umbridge sweetly. “That wasn’t too
difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please.” Willow looked at her friends in a confused manner. Without wands? Grumpily, Willow shoved her wand inside her bag and took out her quill, ink and parchment.

“Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn’t it?” stated Professor Umbridge. “The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed . . ." Willow didn't bother to listen as she pretended herself to listen to her lecture. But, thankfully she wasn't noticed this time.

After few minutes of lecture, she stopped doodling once she felt Harry nudging her arm, which made her to look up and see Hermione talking with Umbridge. 

“Using defensive spells?” Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. “Why, I can’t imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren’t expecting to be attacked during class?”

“We’re not going to use magic?” Willow asked out loudly.

“Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class,
Mrs. — ?”

“Lupin,” said Willow, thrusting his hand into the air.
Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on her. Harry and Hermione immediately raised their hands too.

“Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?”

“Yes,” said Hermione. “Surely the whole point of Defense Against
the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?”

“Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?”
asked Professor Umbridge in her falsely sweet voice.

“No, but —”

“Well then, I’m afraid you are not qualified to decide what the
‘whole point’ of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way —”

“What use is that?” said Harry loudly. “If we’re going to be attacked it won’t be in a —”

“Hand, Mr. Potter!” sang Professor Umbridge. Willow scoffed loudly as she rolled her eyes. Umbridge's eyes bored on her as she gave her a fake sweet smile.

"Uh-uh, not with that attitude, Ms. Lupin," Willow gritted her teeth in anger as she glared at that woman in pink.

Harry thrust his fist in the air. Professor Umbridge promptly
turned away from him again, but now several other people had their hands up too.

“And your name is?” Professor Umbridge said to Dean.

“Dean Thomas.”

“Well, Mr. Thomas?”

“Well, it’s like Harry said, isn’t it?” said Dean. “If we’re going to be attacked, it won’t be risk-free —”

“I repeat,” said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating
fashion at Dean, “do you expect to be attacked during my classes?”

“No, but —”

Professor Umbridge talked over him.
“I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this
school,” she said, an unconvincing smile stretching her wide mouth, but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed — not to mention,” she gave a nasty little laugh. Willow clenched her fist as she looked at Umbridge in a dark gaze.

“extremely dangerous half-breeds.”

"Shut up!" She yelled as she stood up, with her hands pinned at the edge of the desk. Umbridge's eyes widened in shock as she scoffed in an offended way.

"Hands up--"

"No, I will not! You have no right to talk about my dad! " Willow said angrily as Hermione tried to make her sit down, but Willow pulled her hand away from her harshly. "Don't you dare talk bad about him! You know nothing, like nothing about my dad. So, you better shut up--"

"Stop it! I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my class! Get ou--" before Umbridge could complete her sentence,  Willow packed her bag and glared at her lastly.

"As if I love staying in this stupid class, " she muttered harshly and walked out of the class.

Fucking Toad.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

An update!