Burning Sensation and Avoided Immolation

(Y/N)'s POV

I started to make my way to the common room, trying to distract myself from the stares and whispers of almost everyone I passed, but each one made me feel more and more stressed.

Slytherins I passed where the worst, each of them glaring at me and even shouting out insults, it was clear I hadn't been spared from the rumour train and had been lumped in with Harry.

Nothing new, so over the years I had developed a fool proof way to ignore them, to stare at the floor of the castle most of the way to my destination, the whole time wishing the Draught of Peace lasted longer.

I was halfway through the west corridor when McGonagall found me. I tried to turn and run by ducking down the nearest flight of stairs but she called out "Mr. (L/N), I've been looking for you."

"Hey professor, didn't see you there" I tried to smile. She looked sternly at me, turned on her heel and said, "Come with me" and we walked to her office as if I was walking to my death.

Harry had already been called out of the common room to endure fifteen highly unpleasant minutes in the company of Professor McGonagall. He was waiting outside because it was my turn now.

She had me explain how it went down from my perspective, of course I had to doctor parts to fit the narrative that I fed Snape. I purposely omitted certain sections, like anything to do with the Marauders Map or knowing Harry was looking for the Room of Requirement.

I had to feed her the same lie about going with Hermione to see Vector. But just recounting the story of the scene I found in the bathroom made me shiver and I realised my draught of peace had worn off entirely when she glared at me intensely and I averted my eyes in panic.

Lying to Snape felt justified but lying to McGonagall just felt...wrong. It left a terrible taste in my mouth, "-And that's when Snape came in and helped me heal him" I said finally, she had taken the whole story in quietly, her eyes scanning my face.

She didn't say anything during my retelling and remained silent long after I had finished. She laced her hands together and sighed.

"I don't know what on earth possessed you to run into the room but both you and Mr. Potter narrowly avoided disaster, frankly it is a miracle this scenario ended up as it did. You are lucky this issue didn't go further" She said tiredly.

"After speaking with Myrtle and from what little Mr. Malfoy has told us, it seems you are telling the truth, because of this, I am willing to settle for detention with me, every week until the end of term" she said calmly.

I was sure I'd misheard. "The rest of term! I only tried to help!" I defended myself, "I should be getting praised, why should I be punished for trying to help, that makes no sense!" I said angrily.

"Do not raise your voice at me!" she said quickly. I shrunk away, not wanting to give her any reason to punish me more. "Sorry..." I said meekly. "Mr. (L/N), I understand your frustration, I do, and if it were up to me, you would be right but I'm afraid, it is not."

I was incredibly confused now, "Yes it is, you're my head of house" She sighed, "Try to look at this from the school's perspective" she said suddenly, as if it was a threat of what was to come "This is a delicate position to be in."

"Why?" "You are made of age and a short time after you and a close friend are found stood over a bloody body of another student." My heart sank, I didn't think of it like that.

"The headmaster is under pressure from the schoolboard and is having to seriously consider expulsion, something has to be done." Now I really didn't like where this was going.

I just nodded, not knowing what to do or say in this situation. I think I must have gone into shock because the only thing I thought to do was remember a threat she had made to me during my second year after I punched Malfoy. I swallowed and softly said, "Gryffindor."

But then my brain took over my body again and I shouted, "No, no! you aren't expelling me to protect Harry, I wont stand for it!" I started, and for the first time, I genuinely saw her look shocked.

"You misunderstand, you are not being expelled, neither is Mr. Potter, but you best consider yourself exceptionally lucky! If the situation was any worse, there would be no room for debate" I nodded, still unable to speak, I was suddenly interested in Astronomy again so I could count my lucky stars.

Maybe it was what Snape said to me earlier, but upon hearing this, I felt a weight being lifted from my chest, It was a fear that was always in the back of my mind whenever something like this happened.

Hermione's a model student, Ron's a 'Quidditch ace' and a prefect, Harry's the chosen one, me I'm just the delinquent they hang out with. I was the pawn on the chessboard to take the hit for them. So of course, if anyone would be expelled, I was the first on the list.

"In fact, Dumbledore wishes to commend you for your actions, but cannot do so while being put under such pressure, so we must unfortunately give you some sort of punishment."

"Seems a little asinine to me" She nodded, "Perhaps." It was a weird feeling, usually I got punished regardless whenever Harry was involved, so it's what I came to expect, but being praised for something, even something so simple made me feel so much better.

"No matter your involvement. I am disgusted that we had to have this conversation in the first place." McGonagall explained further, I nodded. "So am I professor. Trust me. So am I."

She explained that I would be receiving 'detention' with her for the same amount of time Harry was, this was to appease the Ministry, who didn't want to be made to look bad by me causing trouble after they put their trust in me.

But, as far as she was concerned after a week I had no obligation to attend them, she would mark that I attended and I can be on my way. I was amazed, I loved it when McGonagall acted like this, it was great.

And not just because I avoided punishment, It was great that she understood why I did what I did, it was like I was more justified and put me at ease.

I couldn't help but smile cheekily, "Snape's gonna have a mental breakdown, I wonder if he'll curse me?" I thought to myself devilishly, imagining a scene in which I strutted back into his class surrounded by crowds of adoring fans and his head exploded with rage.

After several minutes of more explanation as to how I was supposed to act as if I was being punished, she had me call Harry inside the room with us. Due to his direct involvement. Harry did not get off as easily as I did.

Professor McGonagall, who had told him he was lucky not to have been expelled and that she supported wholeheartedly Snape's punishment of detention every Saturday until the end of term. It was one of the first times I'd seen her genuinely angry, It was terrifying.

After a tense ten minutes where my fate was up in the air, I could finally smile again, Harry went to the common room, I spent a few minutes walking the grounds. But not before confronting him about how stupid he had been.

"What the bloody hell where you thinking! You could have killed him!" I said, trying to keep my temper. He went into a ten minute rant about how it wasn't his fault and that he didn't know what the spell did, and that of course he wouldn't have used it if he had known.

Of course he was telling the truth but I was still absolutely livid with him, for all he knew he could have cut Malfoy's head off, then he would have not only killed someone but knowing my luck both of us would have got the blame and I would have to answer for it too.

I sighed, "Seriously, why is it always me, why do Hermione and Ron barely ever get caught with you anymore?" I said, but part of me knew it was because they were smart enough to stay out of his way when he's like this most of the time.

When I got back to the common room Harry had just finished telling Ron, Hermione, and Ginny what had happened, not that there seemed to have been much need.

That was when Hermione had explained to me how and why the news had travelled so fast: Apparently Moaning Myrtle had taken it upon herself to pop up in every bathroom in the castle to tell the story.

And to top it all off, Pansy Parkinson had lost no time in vilifying Harry and I far and wide, and Snape had told the staff precisely what had happened. I could only sigh, knowing there was nothing I could do to quell the rumours, but I did find some comfort with sitting hand in hand with Hermione for a while.

She doted on me for the afternoon, not asking about homework or my shield charm and not even mentioning the incident with Malfoy, and I was extremely grateful, it was moments like this that I was so proud of myself for finding such an amazing person to be with.

But I should have known she couldn't keep it in for much longer, after half an hour of relative silence and her frowning in Harry's direction, she finally caved.

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person," Hermione said, evidently unable to stop herself. "And I was right, wasn't I." I nodded, she was right, but I don't think this was necessarily the time to brag about it,

"No, I don't think you were," said Harry stubbornly. "Harry," said Hermione, "how can you still stick up for that book when that spell-" "Will you stop harping on about the book!" snapped Harry.

"You're one to talk!" I snapped back, reminding him that he had spent months singing its praises and had no right to blow up at us for it after we had warned him time and time again. But he still acted as if I had just insulted his new-born baby.

"The Prince only copied it out! It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!" "I don't believe this," said Hermione. "You're actually defending-"

"I'm not defending what I did!" said Harry quickly. "I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy,"

"But you can't blame the Prince, he hadn't written 'try this out, it's really good' he was just making notes for himself, wasn't he, not for anyone else..." "Are you telling me," said Hermione, "that you're going to go back —?"

"And get the book? Yeah, I am," said Harry forcefully. "No, you're not." I said finally, he turned to me with a raised eyebrow as if demanding an explanation. I looked him dead in the eye and used small words to get the message through.

"Harry, If I ever see that book again, I'm burning it to ash." I said plainly, not as a threat, as a promise. But despite everything, after all this fuss, he still defended it.

"Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have-" "-got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said Hermione nastily.

"Give it a rest, Hermione!" said Ginny, and Harry looked up, smiling like a fool. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"

"Something good. SOMETHING GOOD!" I shouted out before I could stop myself, jumping to my feet in rage. "Excuse me, but in my opinion but a spell that cuts you up and causes you to almost drown in your own blood is not something good."

"You weren't there, you didn't see the damage it did, so don't talk to me as if you know what it was like, that spell isn't something good, and I think you of all people would understand how dangerous information from evil books can be in the wrong hands!"

I was shouting at her before I realised, I did feel bad for it, knowing that it was simply a product of my accumulated stress, but nobody stopped me, she just glared at me, despite the fact that she herself had drawn the comparison to Riddle's diary earlier in the year.

"Whoever thought up that spell is sick in the head." Harry went to open his mouth in defence of the book again, so I reiterated, "If I see that book again, I'm destroying it. On sight! And if I ever see you use that spell again, I'm never forgiving you. Remember what I said to you last year."

I left them with that and stormed out of the room. So yes, it was fair to say my experience with the Prince's ultimate spell 'For Enemies' had shaken me quite a bit. I spent another long while wandering around Hogwarts to calm down.

My first thought was visiting the Thestrals, so I trudged down the grounds but I never mode it that far, Hagrid caught up to me beforehand. "(Y/N), you wanna come in for a 'cuppa?" I shrugged, "Why not?"

Stepping inside, Hagrid stoked his fireplace and set to work boiling his kettle. I slumped down at his table, Fang already bounding over to slobber on my clothes, naturally. Then Hagrid passed me some tea and slid over a plate of rock cakes.

The second he did, I felt all the stress that my meeting with McGonagall hit me like a raging Hippogriff and realised I was exhausted.

"How yer feelin' " asked Hagrid sincerely, clearly trying not to skip over the chit chat so he didn't seem rude, but just looking at him I know the rumour had carried its way through the castle and he had undoubtedly been told. Either by staff or student.

I didn't really want to talk about it again, just thinking about it made me fly into a panic, I was perfectly content to just spend the afternoon eating rock cakes and having a nice chat with Hagrid to decompress, but I could tell it was the only thing on his mind.

See, I could fight Dragons or Death Eaters any day of the week, all the fear and stress from that stuff washes off me pretty quickly, but it was stuff like this that stuck with me, the consequences that we faced afterwards that always got to me.

I don't know why it was, but part of me thinks it may have been my Mum and Dad always telling me to stay out of trouble and lay low all the time and how close Harry always made me come to losing everything. It just got to me.

So after fifteen minutes of discussing the Care for Magical Creatures syllabus and the lengthy discussion about the Thestral herd on the grounds Hagrid took a breath and started a clunky segue into what he really wanted to talk about.

"I heard 'bout that nasty stuff with Malfoy, bad business that was" He shuddered. "I don' suppose you know what happened? The things Snape was saying tha' Harry was goin' 'round using Dark Magic." he shook his head.

"Codswallop I said, not Harry, he wouldn't go around using spells like that" I nodded, always admiring Hagrids loyalty to his friends. But unfortunately, I had to break the news to him.

And so, for the third time today, as the sun began to disappear between the trees of the forbidden forest, I recounted my version of the story to Hagrid.

By the end, I was staring reflectively into the fire, realising how close I had come to having to leave the one place I loved most in the world. All because I tried to help someone who was dying.

"He didn't know what it did, or so he said" I finished, Hagrid seemed aghast at the confirmation "Merlin's beard...where'd ya learn...no..." he trailed off in disbelief. Something he tended to do when he was flustered.

The whole time I had been petting Fang. "No...not Harry" he said again, "Accidental weren't it? S'not the same..." I nodded, "He's still an idiot though."

"Blimey, Snape gave me a right scare, makin' me think Harry had gone all dark like..." "Voldemort" I said for him, he shushed me harshly. "Don' go sayin' that name, but it was an accident though, wern' it."

I shrugged, honestly I couldn't say, for all I knew he did it on purpose and was trying to cover it up, I only got there afterwards and Harry has had it out for Malfoy all year.

"He still did it though Hagrid, it was horrible, there was so much blood..." I trailed off, staring at the fire and trying not to think of it.

"Don' matter if it were on purpose or not now does it, was' done is done" he said. I nodded, "Jus' lucky you wer' there to help innit'" he said, smiling at me and nudging my shoulder, almost knocking me off my chair.

"Nah, Snape would have helped him." I said dismissively, "Nonsense, tha' don' matter, you were there wern' ye, you tried, tha's what matters." I nodded again, shrugging a little and staring into the fire, watching it crackle.

"Well, it's not a spell he's gonna whip out again any time soon is it?" he smiled, I shrugged, "You never know, maybe it's his new favourite, can't say I'm a fan though."

I meant it as a joke, but Hagrid furrowed his brow as if it was a possibility, "if tha's the case, you send 'im right to me. I'll sort him out" I nodded. "By his ankles if I have to" I giggled, sipping my tea.

Taking in his words made me smile, but there was something else, something I'd missed, it was sending sparks of memory through my head, but I didn't know why.

It was as if he had just said some sage advice that I couldn't quite understand, but knew it was important. Something about his last few sentences holding much more meaning then face value.

Now I furrowed my own brow, staring into the fire, which was the little kick I needed to make my epiphany, my shield charm, it was so simple, why didn't I think of it? It was right in front of my face. I had to go and tell Hermione; this could change everything.

I downed my tea, instantly regretting it because it was still hot, then I spluttered, "Hagrid what would I do without you!" in my excitement, "Burn down the school I reckon" he joked.

"Maybe later, I've got a spell to work on" I beamed at him, concepts and ideas rocketing around my head. I had it this time, I could feel it!

Scratching Fang's ears until he was content and giving Hagrid the biggest hug I could muster, saying, "You're the best Hagrid!" he pat me on the back and beamed at me, looking a little confused, so I darted out the room and jogged back up to the castle.

I took all the rock cakes I could carry, which with my new fancy belt, was quite a few. "Thanks Hagrid! see you in class" I called back as I sprinted up to the dorm before bed.

I ran into the dorms, proclaiming my brilliance and terrifying a bunch of sleepy looking first years who were halfway up the stairs off to bed.

Hermione was the only person of note in the common room, only a few stragglers remained before everyone went to bed. She was clearly busy working on Arithmancy homework, surrounded by scrolls and complex looking writings.

"Drop everything! I have news." I laughed as she jumped, clearly not noticing my presence as I entered, too focused on her work.

"What have I told you about doing that!" she snapped at me, I shrugged, "Pay more attention than" She scowled at me and make her signature 'humph' noise. "Couldn't it wait for the morning, what's so important?"

I shook my head, "What's happened?" she said in concern. Getting up from the desk, I took her hands excitedly and kissed her in celebration. After a few seconds, she pulled away, "Ok, what is going on!"

"The charm, we've been going about it all wrong. We can create it, but it can't maintain its form, it's because the fire can't sustain itself on its own." She nodded slowly, rubbing her eyes. "I know, we figured that out."

"Until Hagrid helped me out" she looked a little perturbed by this and did not seem to believe me. So, I explained. "It was something Hagrid said about 'whipping out' certain spells that's when I got the idea."

"When Mum was in the Department of Mysteries she used the fire rope spell to contain Dolohov, it started off small but she could get it as bright and as strong as she needed so that's probably the best thing to use"

"You think that will help us sustain the spell?" I nodded firmly, "Why would that work when nothing else we tried has? Where is this coming from?"

"Well, when Hagrid said it I was staring into his fireplace, that was the start of it, but then I burned myself on tea" She deadpanned at me, "What on earth..." she muttered under her breath.

"I was talking to Hagrid and he offered me tea, I thought nothing of it at first but my tea was still hot when I drank it" "Enough about tea, what has this got to do with anything?" she said impatiently.

"I got thinking about all the times he's made us tea, he always has to boil that big kettle because there's so much water and that's why it was still hot, by the time he'd poured me my second cup I'd finished my story because it takes ages to boil."

She looked at me like I had just told her I was secretly a Flobberworm. I explained it in more detail so she would catch on. "The Patronus and Fiendfyre are both examples very advanced magic. We were weren't boiling enough water!"

I suppose the analogy only made sense to me, I was trying to get across the fact that we had started at step two. "We were going too far with the spell from the beginning, we need to give it time to get hot enough."

Then, she made a face that I had come to love, the face she made when she figured something out. "The spell couldn't maintain itself because it was too strong, and it burnt itself out. Like a candle, if the fire is too hot it melts quicker."

Then she beamed at me, realising where I was going with the fire rope spell stuff from earlier, it was the base the spell needed to maintain itself, a minimum heat that it could stay at rather than constantly staying at its maximum.

This time she kissed me, much more passionately then I had, of course figuring out complex problems was a turn on for her, what else would it be? "That's ingenious!" she said as she pulled away.

"You're brilliant!" I shrugged, "Nah, I'm nothing special, you know what they say about broken clocks, just got lucky I guess" I rubbed my neck, a little embarrassed by the attention.

She gathered up her stuff, "We can start in the morning, get off to bed" she said quickly, I was a little upset at this because I was excited to get to work, but she was right, a good nights sleep would help.

When I went up to the dorm I found the others. Harry and Ron where sat on their beds, taking to each other, not even noticing my entrance, Harry grumbling about his upcoming detentions with Snape and Ron chattering on about Gryffindors chances for the Quidditch Cup.

"Guy's you'll never guess what me and Hermione just did!" I said happily. Both of them looked at me and almost in synchronised pattern, rolled their eyes. It was a little disheartening honestly, but I suppose it had been a very long day for most of us, speaking of which.

Ron was first to address me, but I think it was just an excuse to think about something other then the cup. "We don't really need to know mate, you keep that stuff private" he yawned. Neither of them seemed very invested in what I was saying.

Harry had stopped what he was doing, but still looked uncaring, Ron was still taking glances at a Quidditch tactics book. "You know what? Forget it, I'll tell you in the morning." I said sulkily, storming up to my bed in a foul mood.

They shared a glance and Harry said, "C'mon tell us," I smiled again, "Well, I went down to Hagrid's for some tea and-""-He told you about his new nightmare, did he? What is it this time? A Manticore he calls Snuggles?" Said Ron tiredly.

I glared at him for interrupting and he said "Sorry..." yawning again. "What were you doing down at Hagrid's?" asked Harry, clearly not that interested. "Anything good?" Said Ron

"Oh, y'know, nothing important, just single-handedly doing ground-breaking work on undiscovered magic that could save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives, so nah not really, got to have some pretty good rock cakes though."

Suddenly they were very invested in what I had to say, but unfortunately for them, all this explaining had made me very tired. I decided to leave them in suspense and headed off to bed, cuddling Bones closer to me and giddily awaiting tomorrow so I could start working on it.

The next morning I was so excited I woke up at around four in the morning and had to wait for everyone else to wake up, though it did give me time to run through the theoretical concerns I had with my spell and working out the kinks.

As Harry and Ron came down I had enough of waiting and told them everything, they were both gobsmacked and could only say stuff like "How?" and "What?"

I sprinted up to get Hermione, eager to start, keeping my momentum I bolted up the stairs to the girls dormitory. Not even thinking about it, just being ecstatic to create the spell.

There where cheers and jeers from all around me, but I ignored them, again taking the steps three to four at a time. It wasn't even about the game; I was just very excited.

Before I knew it, I was clutching onto the doorframe of the girls dorm for dear life as the slide appeared and I lost my footing. Though I was happy to hear cheering from downstairs, mostly from the boys.

As promised, I knocked on the door. Clearly curious about the ruckus outside and the sudden knock on the door, Parvati pulled the door open, saying "Come in" before she saw who was on the other side.

While that is a tempting offer, but Hermione would stab me in my sleep, so I didn't take her up on it, but she swung the whole door open so it wasn't an entire loss. My fun ended once she saw me, she let out a squeal and closed the door so only her face was visible through the crack.

"What the hell are you doing!" she snapped at me, smirking, I said, "Can Hermione come out to play?" she took a brief glance behind me and sighed. "It's important I promise" I said, definitely not attempting to see past her into the dorm.

I just happened to be stretching my neck and was curious as to what the décor looked like "Hermione, the idiot is here for you!" she called so I could hear. Then I heard Hermione's voice, sounding rather befuddled, saying "What?"

But that was all I managed to get. Parvati caught me trying to peak round her, to where the girls were getting ready for the morning, they were just about to come into my line of sight when Parvati cleared her throat. We locked eyes for a second and I ashamedly muttered a "...sorry."

She looked at me with utter disdain, sighed deeply and said "Boys..." Before she pushed the centre of my chest, closing the door as she did. Unfortunately, that made me shift a little and I lost all my grip on the doorframe.

I managed to call out "oh, f-" before falling backwards onto the slide. Normally this would be quite fun, going down a slide backwards. But this particular slide was made of concrete, and because I was at the very top, by the time I hit the bottom I was suffering from very severe friction burn down my back.

But I was satiated by the smiling faces of Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean and just about every other Gryffindor boy. "Yeah, definitely deserved that one." I thought. But could you blame me, I'm still a teenage boy at the end of the day.

They wrenched me to my feet as I hissed at them for irritating my back, "Worth it!" I cheered, eventually we all got so excited we just ended up jumping around in a circle, cheering and hollering.

"It's possible, I knew it was possible!" I was talking about my charm; I don't think they were. Nevertheless, after five minutes of loud celebration, Hermione came down, in her pyjamas. I found this both adorable and hilarious.

She glared at the lot of us, so much so that the majority of the crowd scampered off to have their breakfast. "Why were you trying to get into the girl's dorm?" she said with a sweet and dangerous tone.

"I wasn't, and technically I was invited in" She looked to me with her eyebrow raised. "I was only looking for you, I got a little excited." She didn't buy it and scowled at me. "Sorry, wasn't thinking." "Yeah, I guessed as much" she frowned at me, turned on her heel and went to get ready.

I was met with glares from every Gryffindor girl that morning and apologised more times than I can count, on the flip side, everyone in my  set of dorms treated me like a king. I had so many mixed feelings.

After a long day of lessons that made me increasingly impatient, we made our way to an empty classroom to work on the charm, nerves bubbled up into my chest, what if it didn't work, I would look like such an idiot.

But I pushed these thoughts aside once we stepped into the room, the only thing on my mind was the words I repeated in my head. "It will work. After all this, it had to work"

Hermione's POV

(Y/N) immediately got to work, rolling up his sleeves and loosening his uniform, then making the motions for every spell he needed in sequence, over and over, looking increasingly more confident with each finished motion.

He's so brilliant sometimes it amazes me, but I still worried. "Are you sure you can do this, I don't want to risk you getting hurt" he did that thing he always did and stuck out his tongue.

"Worst that can happen is I set myself on fire, and that's a pretty metal way to die" he smiled again. I furrowed my brow at this thought, that wasn't something I'd really want to see.

"I'd prefer if you didn't" he shrugged, "I know, me too, so if I start smoking let me know, I'll tell you if I experience any sudden burning sensations."

After a few minutes of going over to process to iron out the details we were ready to start, I stepped back from him as he started the spell, "Three, two, one..." I counted him down.

I watched on in awe as fire emanated from his wand, and with an uncharacteristic amount of confidence as if he had done this all his life he sent it outwards into the shape of a whip with a flick of his wrist.

I was expecting the normal 'Crack!' Sound whips usually made but instead it was the popping and sizzling sounds fires produced. I could feel the heat from feet away, but he looked to be in perfect control.

He smiled at me and winked, then he started again, spinning his hand in a circle this time, drawing the outline of a faint shield.

He turned his hand once, flame sprouted from the whip, growing hotter and brighter, then again and it began changing colour, at first, I thought it was simply white hot, but it was the silver beginnings of the complete spell. The whole spell still bubbling like liquid metal.

As (Y/N) completed his third rotation, the bright light burst forth, a shield in front of him, almost roaring, the fire a deep red and orange, some of it spluttering off in golden sparks and the brightest and hottest sections seeming to burn silver rather than blue.

The moment of truth was when he disconnected his wand from the spell entirely and it stayed there, a force of its own. Burning a little weaker but still blindingly bright. This was further then we've ever got.

"YES!" bellowed (Y/N), throwing his arms above his head. He turned, basically skipping over to me "Not the most subtle, but when am I ever?" He beamed at me. "You did it!" I celebrated. He shook his head, "We did it."

After a few minutes of celebratory kissing and several successful attempts to recreate the results, we began testing, throwing every spell we could think of at it, it stayed strong.

I even tried my best to replicate the spell Dolohov had used on me and it still burned out as soon as it met the flame. We couldn't test the killing curse for obvious reasons but there seemed to be no reason why it wouldn't work the same way with that as it did with every other charm and curse.

"Now we just need to name it. I was thinking the (L/N)-Potter-Weasley-Hagrid extravaganza charm" I chuckled "Really rolls of the tongue, but one problem, I don't hear any Granger in there."

He shrugged, "Well, that will sort itself out in a few years anyway, or we can just add an extra hyphen" he waved it off, winking at me. Then he turned away from me and collected his bag so we could head back.

To top off a brilliant week, we were witness to one of the best played Quidditch Matches in Gryffindor history. Now I wasn't the biggest Quidditch fan, but even I could admit that Gryffindors performance in their match against Ravenclaw was a sight to behold.

(Y/N)'s POV

After what seemed like hours of partying in the common room I saw Harry step through the portrait hole after his detention with Snape during the match, he gaped as people began to scream at the sight of him; several hands pulled him into the room.

"We won!" yelled Ron, bounding into sight and brandishing the silver Cup at Harry. "Yeah we did!" I shouted to the room, who all started cheering again. Harry was still looking stunned.

"We won! Four hundred and fifty to a hundred and forty! We won!" Harry looked around at the crowd, smiling widely then Ginny ran toward him and threw her arms around him. I pointed it out to Hermione, who smiled happily, and then something unexpected happened

Despite the fact that fifty people were watching, including Dean and Ron, Harry kissed her. Hermione forced my hand over my mouth before I could squeal. "Blimey, I didn't think he'd ever do it" I whispered to her as she uncovered it.

She nodded and muttered "About time" but then I realised the room had gone very quiet. I looked round to see the other reactions and I was not disappointed, Dean Thomas holding a shattered glass in his hand, and Romilda Vane looking as though she might throw something.

Hermione was beaming, but I really wanted to see Ron's reaction. I saw him, still clutching the Cup and wearing an expression appropriate to having been clubbed over the head. For a fraction of a second they looked at each other, then Ron gave a tiny jerk of the head that after years of knowing Ron, I understood to mean, "Well...if you must."

"Took them long enough, bloody hell, I've been rooting for that since our second year" I nudged Ron, who was now looking a little sour. Or at least until Lavender basically pounced on him.

"Part of me wants to punch him because, same as with Dean, Ginny's like my little sister and part of me wanted to high five him because she's stunning, so many mixed feelings!" Hermione let out a giggle, "Maybe I'll just do both."

The fact that Harry Potter was going out with Ginny Weasley seemed to interest a great number of people, most of them girls, yet Harry found himself newly and happily impervious to gossip over the next few weeks.

"You'd think people had better things to gossip about," said Ginny, as she sat on the common room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet. "Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest."

Ron and Hermione both roared with laughter. Ginny grinned ear to ear, laughing along with us. "Oh this is brilliant!" I said for about the tenth time today. Harry ignored us. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail," said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. "Much more macho." "Thanks," said Harry, grinning. "And what did you tell her Ron's got?" "A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where." "That's a fact! I've seen it!" I declared.

Ron scowled as Hermione and I rolled around laughing. "Watch it," he said, pointing warningly at Harry and Ginny. "Just because I've given my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it" "Your permission", scoffed Ginny.

"Since when did you give me permission to do anything? Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean." "Yeah, I would," said Ron grudgingly. "And just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public"

"You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?" demanded Ginny. "Yeah Ron, now you know how it feels." I said, he scowled at me harder, "What about you?" Ginny asked, "What have you got?" she giggled.

"I've got one of Bones across my back, Hermione loves how manly it makes me look" I said, just enjoying the atmosphere of the room much more then all the serious doom and gloom stuff we talked about normally.

Then, looking at Harry and Ginny I realised something and laughed even harder, so much so I was attracting a crowd, which was perfect for what I was doing next.

"Now that everyone is gathered." I cleared my throat, "Time to reprise my favourite poem of all time" they all looked at me oddly, I winked at Ginny and started.

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad," there were some gasps from around the room. "NO!" Ginny roared, going crimson and launching a pillow at me so fast I barely had time to dodge it, then Bones attacked it as I continued to serenade the room

"His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, the hero who conquered the Dark Lord." Ginny blushed crimson and started spluttering, the rest of the room was in hysterics, even Ron started to crack a smile.

Harry looked at me like a deer in headlights. "How do you remember that?" he said in shock, "How could I ever forget? I'm performing it at your wedding, I have a dance routine and everything" I smirked, "Winky's on drums, and I'm trying to get Moaning Myrtle for backing vocals."

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