(Y/N)'s POV

As I entered his office he was at his Pensieve, that reminded me to ask him about my dream and the boggart, but now probably wasn't a good time, as he finished doing whatever he was doing, I strode up to Fawkes.

"Hello Fawkes, looking good" I said, stroking his beak, he let out a chirp, with this Dumbledore turned back to me and smiled. "Ah, Is it that time already? I expected you to last at least a week Mr (L/N)" he did something between a smile and a smirk.

"I aim to exceed expectations Professor. And please (Y/N) is fine, Mr. (L/N) is my dad... well it's not, that's Mr. Bogwood...but it like (L/N) better. Let's not go there, it's very confusing" he nodded, I handed him the note.

"Ah, it seems you have made quite the impact on Professor Umbridge, as I had expected you would." I nodded "I just asked some questions" he looked over the paper again "so it seems..."

"Well, I'm afraid you are to serve detention with Professor Umbridge for the next two weeks during your free period, and I will have to take points from Gryffindor" I deflated a bit at that, "Ok, that's fair" he weakly smiled.

"Is there a reason this has happened?" he asked. I looked at him confused, "You haven't realised?" he smiled, now I was getting concerned "What?" "You are using your abilities again, not following Snape's instruction"

"How can you tell?" "I have a headache," he chuckled "I have since you walked in the room" I laughed too "Hermione says I do that anyway" He smiled and nodded. "I was doing it at St. Mungo's too, I don't know why."

He tapped his chin "Something to think on, moving on" "Professor McGonagall has informed me of your wish to become an animagi. And what you have told me about using your abilities constantly, leads me to believe you are practising. Even subconsciously" He said as if he was telling me rather than asking.

"Why?" he asked calmly, I stuttered "oh, it's nothing, silly really." He smiled "Nonsense, help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it" I shrugged "It's my, uh, my boggart, and I keep having weird dreams, so I thought something bad was going to happen."

He beckoned me to continue, so I did, explaining my worries about the gravestone. Then showing him the vial "May I?" he asked, motioning to the pensieve. I nodded. He plucked the memory from my hand.

He looked at the memory, I stroked Fawkes while I waited. He soon emerged, looking to be in deep thought, and deeply concerned. "I see" he said thoughtfully. Stroking his beard and looking over into his penseive.

"When... when I was a young man...things happened in my past that I'm not proud of, and it has haunted me ever since." I remained silent. "its location meant very little to me back then, but now, I will never forget it" there was a long pause.

"Perhaps, you are not afraid of being in the graveyard again. Perhaps, it is the events that occurred there that haunt you" his tone changed, suddenly it was a bit more cheerful, like it normally was.

"So, tell me, how did you feel, while you were facing Voldemort?" he seemed oddly curious, as if he was hanging off my every word, like he was a fan of Voldemort's work or something. "If I wanted a shrink professor, I would have stayed in St. Mungos."

Dumbledore chuckled, "Ah yes, I imagine that must have been rather dull for you, but please, humour an old man." Despite his urging, there was a solid minute where I couldn't speak, all that came to mind was that image of Cedric, and that feeling, hiding behind the gravestones.

"...I don't know, it was... horrific, in a word, it was like no matter what I did, it didn't matter, he was better, anything I thought of was useless, I couldn't even help Cedric, or Harry" My hands were trembling just thinking of it.

"I've been in fights before, I've fought monsters and dragons. But nothing like him. When I saw him, glaring down at me, I realised he was someone I knew I would never win against. No matter what I had learned, or what I tried, or what I-"

Suddenly my breath was very shallow. Dumbledore put either of his hands on my shoulders. "Breathe my boy. You are safe now." He comforted, "Do you feel the same way now?" I shrugged "sometimes."

"While I cannot say I fully understand your pain, I will say this," He said, releasing my shoulders and looking into my eyes "You are not only the strongest Occlumence that I have ever have the pleasure of meeting, you are also one of the strongest characters I have ever met, so I know this will not hold you back for long"

I shrugged, he was just trying to make me feel better. "So, the solution is quite simple, though many witches and wizards struggle with it" "What is it!" I said excitedly, wondering what solution Dumbledore had against Voldemort.

He turned to me and smiled. "Make yourself stronger" he said with a smile. I was dumbfounded "...that's it?" he nodded. "Make yourself as strong as you can, so the next time you are... you find yourself in the graveyard. You have the tools you need to escape it."

I absentmindedly nodded, but Dumbledore hadn't finished. "Not just magical fortitude, or ability, strength of mind, and strength of heart. Two things I know you have a vast well of. You are stronger than you know. I have every confidence in you (Y/N).  That graveyard will never contain the man you will become."

I resorted back to comedy in my vulnerability, "Well, to be fair, I did pretty well at escaping last time." He smiled. "well, think of it like this, the stronger you are, the easier it is to protect others" he paused "To protect Harry... and your friends" he muttered.

"Can you do it?" he said calmly, but he seemed insistent again, as if it was important. "I don't know." He turned to me, so I explained. "True, I've always been better at Occlumency then Legilimency... but that was on myself"

He seemed to be disgruntled "Surely you can try?" I nodded "Yeah, but Voldemort is the strongest Legilimens I've ever seen, in the graveyard he got into my head almost instantly" "But could you protect someone else?" "I don't know"

"But. If you had time to prepare?" I bit my lip in thought. "Maybe, at a stretch I could try to help Harry, but... I don't know if it will be enough" I looked down sadly, "You are not the same boy you once were (Y/N)," he smiled at me, "Every year you come into my office, and every year, you continue to surpass my wildest thoughts of your capabilities."

I smiled weakly at him as he gripped my shoulder "I want you to remember that. You don't have to be afraid of that graveyard anymore, because you are not the same person that went into it" I smiled at him, pet Fawkes for a few more seconds and left.

I found the others at dinner, but we quickly decided to leave after Harry was once again, the subject of rumours and chattering, making it unbearable. The common room was almost empty; nearly everyone was still down at dinner.

Crookshanks uncoiled himself from an armchair and trotted to meet us, purring loudly, and when we took our favourite chairs at the fireside he leapt lightly into Hermione's lap and curled up there like a furry ginger cushion.

Bones prowled down the stairs from the girls dormitory, her mouth had a spider in it, she jumped onto my lap and presented it to me, "Up to old tricks are we?" she purred and I stroked her, she slumped onto my lap.

"How can Dumbledore have let this happen?" Hermione cried suddenly, we all jumped about a foot; Crookshanks leapt off her, looking affronted, coming instead to sit on the gap in my lap. She pounded the arms of her chair in fury, so that bits of stuffing leaked out of the holes.

"How can he let that terrible woman teach us? And in our O.W.L. year too!" "Well, we've never had great Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, have we?" said Harry. "You know what it's like, Hagrid told us, nobody wants the job, they say it's jinxed."

"Yes, but to employ someone who's actually refusing to let us do magic! What's Dumbledore playing at?" "And she's trying to get people to spy for her," said Ron darkly. "Remember when she said she wanted us to come and tell her if we hear anyone saying You-Know-Who's back?"

"Of course, she's here to spy on us all, that's obvious, why else would Fudge have wanted her to come?" snapped Hermione. "Don't start arguing again," said Harry wearily, as Ron opened his mouth to retaliate.

Instead we just did homework, as we were discussing moonstone, I realised "OH MY GOD I'M LATE!" I quickly rushed out of the room. I arrived at McGonagall's office, huffing and puffing, I entered.

"Sorry...I...was...doing...homework" I explained, she looked a bit shocked, but forgave me "It is quite alright" "Now, to discuss the issue at hand." I smirked and she scowled at me. She straightened up.

"I think it would be best if we started the process over again, to be absolutely certain it has been performed perfectly" I frowned at her. "So, I've just spent an entire month chewing on a leaf for no reason?" She nodded, I sighed. "But!-" "Consider yourself lucky I am allowing this at all" she said sternly.

"Ok, how are we gonna get Umbit-" "...I mean, Umbridge off my back for a month?" she smiled. "I will deal with it" then she handed me some leaves. "Don't suppose you could make them taste better" she raised an eyebrow.

"You will begin tomorrow. Luckily the cycle begins then anyway" I nodded "How convenient. But how are you going to make sure people don't realise?" I found out the next day, I started chewing the leaves as instructed, but there were some laughs from the common room.

I soon realised why, there was a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room, "MOUTH SORES" with my name under it, I explained to my friends it wasn't true and she was just covering something for me, but I don't know if they were entirely convinced.

Either way, the rumour was now floating around the school that I needed the remedy in my mouth all day round. I wasn't very happy. As we went into the Transfiguration classroom that morning, I confronted her

"Pro'essor, wat the hel' I do't hav' mowth sowes!" I got frustrated, "Uhhh, I ca' ev'n tawk" "How unfortunate" she smiled. "I giv' up" I used my wand to attach the leaves to the back corner of my cheek so I could talk normally.

"Why'd you put up that sign!" she frowned "It was the only way to guarantee that you would not be disturbed for the duration of the process" she reasoned, "You could have said something cool! I could have been punched in the mouth or something at least"

She let out a tired sigh, her eyes flashed as if she had the urge to do that herself. I had a sneaking suspicion it was a punishment of some kind. I sulked for the rest of the day. I spent a while cheering myself up.

I had Bones basically trash Umbridge's office whenever I had free time, she enjoyed it immensely, the cat pictures creeped her out so while Umbridge was eating lunch Bones slipped under the door and wreaked havoc, personally, I enjoyed Umbridge's reaction more than the actual act.

Of course, Malfoy thought the rumours about my sudden affliction very funny, he pestered me about it the entire way through Care of Magical Creatures. I just ignored him. He kept doing poor impressions of me while pretending to have something in his mouth.

"So, I hear you have detention with Umbridge too" he nudged me "I warned you about being rude to your betters" I just told him to bugger off. Later that day Harry went off to his detention with Umbridge, Ron also left to go and do...something.

We did our homework in silence, but as I relaxed in an armchair, Hermione started pacing. "What is it?" I sighed, she went off on a rant, she had clearly been bottling this up "That Umbridge woman! She's horrible! How are we meant to prepare for our OWL's if she doesn't let us do magic?-"

I sighed and stroked Bones while she rambled. "This is my problem too now, isn't it princess?" I muttered; Bones mewled in response "Yeah." "-And then she has the audacity to say the ministry knows best, as if her being appointed by Fudge makes a difference! That Horrid Woman!-"

I stood up. "And being from the ministry doesn't mean she knows how to teach students-" I walked over to her; Bones jumped onto my shoulder. "And we have all our OWL's for-" I grabbed her shoulders, she seemed to snap out of it. "Breathe Hermione"

She did as I asked, taking a deep breath, then smiled softly, much calmer "See, better, there's that smile" I winked, she seemed to snap back out of it by scolding me "How can you be so calm, The ministry's interfering with Hogwarts!"

I shrugged, running a hand through her hair "They've done that before, remember when they sacked Hagrid, or put Dementors everywhere, It's not a big deal" "I suppose your right, but this is different!"

I nodded "I know, but you don't have to worry, take some time to relax, take a nap or something, the years just started" she frowned "I can't just do that, we have exams and I'm a prefect!" I nodded.

"Fine, but just because she won't teach us, doesn't mean we can't practice" she raised an eyebrow, "We can do it after class, might take your mind off things" She nodded "That would be nice" she smiled.

"Oh, and Ron told me about the house elf hats" I chuckled "You know I support SPEW but tricking them into it isn't true freedom," she looked very guilty "and you know it" I teased, poking her on the nose.

"But still, can I get one? Might suit me" I said, miming putting on a hat, she smiled brightly and nodded. Harry came back followed closely by Ron, I was confused, Harry was in detention, but where was Ron going off too?

When I asked them both about it, Ron just blushed crimson and claimed it was nothing, "Fair enough, how was detention with Umbridge? She have you chained to the ceiling?" I smiled, Harry didn't seem very chipper, Ron glanced at Harry's hand nervously, I knew something was up.

"No, just lines, that's all" he said, but he felt a bit off insisting he had to go to bed, but he did give me an odd bit of advice "Don't use her Quill" he said as he made his way up to bed, he carried himself a bit oddly, he was rubbing the back of his hand, I suppose he was just cold, weird.

I turned back to Ron and Hermione, trying to play off the odd feeling Harry had just given me. "Lines. HA, that old-" I said something, it definitely wasn't "Witch" but close enough "She's all talk, I could do lines until I'm blue in the face, still won't make her any better of a teacher"

Ron snorted, Hermione chuckled, Ron was off to bed next, Hermione was determined to stay up and knit some new hats for the house elves, I did my best to help, staying up and talking with her until the early hours of the morning, but soon, we both retired to our dorms. I collapsed onto my bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I had a horrible dream that night, it made no sense, it started out the same as my other nightmares, in the graveyard again. It was dark, cold, and horrible, but it ended differently. I turned to see the headstone again, but this time, the dream didn't end.

I heard Harry scream in agony, and there, carved on the gravestone, as if by a chisel, were the words "I must not tell lies" the second the last word was written, the stone started trickling blood.

I woke up with a start, sweat pouring off me, In the darkness, I looked around the room, only making out faint noises of snoring and grumbles. For some reason an idea of how to calm myself down came to mind.

I stepped out of bed, quietly as I could I opened my trunk, finding a long black box, I got it last year and finally found a use for it. I slowly crept downstairs and sat beside the fire. I opened the box.

Inside I found a wand, it was exactly the same as the one I used daily, but something about it felt different it was like it was weighted differently, it was something so subtle I couldn't even place what It was. It was a bit more pristine then mine, not as much wear and tear. Somehow just seeing it made me smile.

"Priori Incantato" I cast with my own wand, more out of curiosity then anything, I chuckled when I realised what the spell was "Reparo" It was so simple, something you use in everyday life, not anything flashy.

"What did you break? Idiot" After a while of admiring it "I miss you, wish you were here" I said to nobody. I knew why Mum carried it with her, it was like he was here, even a little piece of him. Just seeing it, knowing it was right here, was giving me more comfort then I thought it would.

I smiled widely again, even after he's dead he's still trying to show off. The idiot. I heard a noise behind me and turned to see it. In the light of the fire, I barely made out a shadow stalking closer to me.

The only thing identifying it was the golden eyes that reflected the flames. "What are you doing up princess? Did I wake you up? Sorry" She mewled at me, telling me she was taking a walk around the castle for a stretch before bed.

She sauntered up to me as I wiped a trail of tears from my eyes. Jumping onto my lap and licking my cheek, "You would have liked him princess, loved drama just like you, loved cats, but we could never get one because of Dad, he'd have spoiled you rotten, not that I don't already."

She purred, "Yeah, kindred spirits" I smiled, then she stretched, settling down on my lap, curling into a ball and immediately falling back to sleep. I followed soon after, dreaming of Quidditch practice and the smell of broomstick polish.

I was roused from sleep by Ginny, she shook me lightly and smiled as I opened my eyes "Mornin' Gin" I smiled tiredly, "Morning, you better get ready, you're going to miss breakfast" I stretched "Not on your life" I walked upstairs, cradling a sleeping cat in my arms, after I had placed her gently on my bed, I put the box back in my trunk and headed downstairs.

It was at breakfast that I was reminded that my day was about to suck. Umbridge smiled at me from the main table and I realised I had detention with her today. Something about her still creeped me out, and Harry kept nervously glancing at me.

My day passed by quickly and uneventfully, but there was the looming shadow of the detention over my head, so, while I had a free period before lunch, I slowly made my way up to her office, feeling like I was walking to the chopping block.

Rapping on the wooden door three times, a sickly-sweet voice answered "Enter" the second I did, she smiled widely. "oh, please come in, take a seat" I did as she asked, "Good, you will be doing some lines for me today."

I nodded, getting out my quill before she had time to process it, "Oh, no you will be using one of mine" the way she said that was so sinister I got chills, but I wasn't going to use hers if I had no other choice.

"I'd much rather use mine, it's my lucky one-" I started, she shook her head, "No I'm afraid I must insist" I continued to argue "Well, mine is more ergonomic, and I think it's sturdier, I got it in first year, hasn't failed me since."

She scowled at me, picking up my quill, and placing it on her desk "And I assure you, I will be very careful with it, but I'm afraid you must follow my instruction, this is a detention after all" she smiled, placing a pitch black quill on my desk instead, "So, you're holding my quill hostage, guess I don't have much choice"

"Quiet" she insisted, I sighed "What am I writing?" "I must take responsibility for my actions." "How many times?" she smiled. "Until I am satisfied the lesson has, sunk in" I shrugged "Because that's not ominous" I thought, but regardless, I got to work.

The second I wrote the first word, my real hand started to twinge a bit, at first, I thought it was just in my head, but as I finished the next word, I realised. I understood why Harry had tried to warn me, why Umbridge was taking such pleasure in sitting there and watching me write lines, nevertheless I finished my first set of lines. Trying my best not to show discomfort.

I watched in horror as the words "I must take responsibility for my actions" was scrawled onto the back of my hand, as if I was using a scalpel to carve it there, and then I watched in amazement as the words all but faded from my hand, only a slight irritation remaining.

An oddly cheery Umbridge cleared her throat and said, "Something wrong dear?" happily, part of me wanted to deny any pain, but that wasn't me, I was going to be as annoying as possible. If she was going to make my day painful, I was going to make hers insufferable too.

"I think your quill is broken, seems to have a fault" I said nonchalantly, she seemed to cycle through emotions before settling on her usual permanent forced smile "I assure you, it works just as intended."

"Oh, well that's fine then" I went to snap the quill in half, but it was like steel, It wouldn't budge. "Huh, guess yours is sturdier" I muttered "Love the extra features, really helps my penmanship, wish I had better handwriting though" she smiled, but I saw her eye twitch.

"Yes, I often find pain to be quite the excellent motivator" I tried to cheat and engrave my metal one but the writing still found its way to my other hand no matter what hand I used to write with. "Nothing's ever simple" I lamented.

I tapped my chin "Pain, you said?" "...I think I might be allergic to this...pain. We best not carry on. I might have a flare up" "I doubt that will be an issue, I assure you my methods have your best interests at heart." I chuckled at that, "Sure" she smiled evilly, "Please continue. In Silence!" She emphasised as I opened my mouth.

As the minutes dragged on, I distracted myself with anything but the pain, my eyes darting around the room, noting all the ornamental kitten plates she had scattered along the walls, some of which were hiding, or askew, or how she had somehow dyed the stone walls pink.

Eventually, I ran out of things to distract me, so I settled for watching Umbridge as she made tea, her china was rather elaborate, but as she made her tea, I saw something that shook me to my core.

"Ma'am that's too much sugar... please stop, it won't dissolve...you won't even taste the tea...PLEASE THAT'S ENOUGH SUGAR PLEASE" I begged dramatically as she shovelled it into her cup; I don't know why that bugged me so much. She huffed "Quiet!"

After what must have been at least an hour and a half, she got up from her desk to look over my shoulder at my hand, smiling as always, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of enjoying this.

"So, where'd you get this quill anyway?" "Silence!" she spat, "... Does Fudge know about this or...?" she just ignored me, sitting back at her desk and sighing. After another hour, I had to go to class, I had missed lunch, my hand was stained red.

I had filled out at least two pages of paper, both sides, in hindsight probably not a good idea to annoy her. "Well, that was nice, can I have my quill back now?" she smiled and passed it back "I shall see you tomorrow" she said in an almost threatening voice.

I nodded, not wanting to show my pain for her amusement "Enjoy your sugar water" I smiled, walking off to the common room, covering my hand with a bandage "Ferula" I needed to find Harry.

I confronted him as we made our way to Divination, getting him away from the others. I propped him up against a wall, "What are you playing at!" he said. "Show me" he shook me off "What are you on about?" he tried to lie.

"Don't act dumb, you might be able to keep a secret, but Ron sucks. I know what she did" he muttered a curse "Show. Me." he avoided my eyes, but raised his hand, I could make out the red spots on his hands. "I must not tell lies"

I was in utter shock, I had expected this as soon as I saw the words appear on my own hand, but I half hoped my dream was just nonsense, I guess even in my sleep I can pick up on certain things. I shook it off, that was a problem for later.

I held up my own, he flinched a little. "We have to tell Dumbledore, we have to-" "NO!" he insisted. "He's got enough on his mind," I looked at him wide eyed "Well, casual child abuse, and TORTURE should probably be one of his concerns, I don't care how busy he is"

"NO! Please" he insisted, he spent the next few minutes trying to convince me out of telling Dumbledore, reasoning that it would distract him from the Order, and finding Voldemort's weapon, which would be worse than anything Umbridge could cook up. Reluctantly, I accepted, guess I must grin and bear it for now.

Ron's POV

I woke up and I was already a bundle of nerves, today was the day, keeper try-outs. I tried to swallow my nerves, I had been practising, I knew I could do it, despite what Fred and George said, the gits.

I would feel a little better if Harry could have come to see me, but Umbridge was forcing him to stay in detention. After I got dressed, I made my way downstairs, Harry was next to me, (Y/N) wasn't in his bed, again.

We made our way downstairs slowly, finding him sat on the armchair opposite the fire, again. He had been doing this for the past week, he kept saying nothing was wrong, but we all knew it was a lie. Harry had already spilled the beans and told me that Umbridge had given him the same treatment he got.

Harry nudged me, guess it was my turn to wake him up, and of course, without waking the cat. I swear, they're joint at the hip, he is overly attached to that little monster. I shook him awake. "Wassup" he said tiredly, his eyes darting open.

"Wake up you mentalist, breakfast, do you ever sleep in your own bed?" He blinked a few times. "No, you snore too much, keeps me up" he smiled, He got up and stretched while me and Harry headed off to breakfast.

We had a chat on our way, he was asking me about how I thought my chances were, I shrugged, not wanting to think of it, "Well, since mum got me a new broom for becoming prefect, It's all skill really isn't it?" I said, he nodded "You'll do great, I know you will" he smiled and pat me on the back.

"You sure you can't persuade Umbridge?" he looked down "No hope, you know what she's like" I sighed, "Guess I'm stuck with the SPEW crew then" I joked, he shrugged. While we were in History of Magic I asked (Y/N) if he wanted to come watch.

I figured he'd be the most reluctant to go considering what happened to his brother, but he smiled and said "I'll be there" It was odd, I expected him to take the mick. And of course, if he was going, so was Hermione.

Harry headed off to his detention, butterflies made their way to my stomach, it finally hit me how close the try outs were. I fetched Hermione from the library, she was still reading up on SPEW, then we went to the common room to get (Y/N). We found him sleeping in the armchair, again. I shook him awake and asked if he was ready.

(Y/N)'s POV

I almost forgot; it was the Keeper try-outs today. And unlike Harry my detentions were in the middle of the day, so I had no reason not to go and cheer on Ron, not that I'd need one, "You coming?" he said.

I could hear the nervousness in his voice, he needed this. "Sure, just let me go get my jacket" I said cheerily, he beamed at me. Hermione promised to meet us there. We made our way down to the Quidditch pitch, I was giving Ron some words of advisement.

"It's simple really, hit the balls away from the hole" he scoffed, "That's like you telling Harry to 'just catch it' " I shrugged "That's all it is really, he just makes a big show of it" I laughed, some colour returned to Ron's cheeks.

As we trudged up to the pitch, Angelina strode up to meet us, "Morning boys... so you here to try out?" I shook my head, Ron nodded "uh...keeper" he said quietly, she looked happy to hear it "Good, we can use one after Wood left" Ron nodded and went to get ready.

When he came back Angelina cheerily asked "What about you (Y/N)? Want to try out for keeper?" I snorted. "I'm not getting on a broom while some mental prats launch balls at my head, I don't care how shiny the cup is."

"Don't worry, Ron's taking the keeper spot anyway" I said confidently, clapping him on the back, He nervously chuckled. "Fair enough, but if you ever change your mind..." She kept hinting at me trying out as we walked to the pitch.

"Well, we could make a beater out of you" she smirked, holding up one of my arms and examining it, I flexed dramatically, and she giggled. "Nah, I'm good, don't want to show up the twins" She nodded, I made my way up to the stands.

Hermione was already waiting, after I greeted her, I rested my hand on hers, even sneaking in a quick kiss, she smiled and asked "What do you think his chances are? I know this is important to him."

I shrugged, "He's pretty good, but I don't know who he's up against. Either way, lets cheer him on" she nodded. "And don't tell him I said that" I added. We spent the next hour cheering him on, he was a bit shaky at first.

He wasn't what I would call graceful, but he did well. After about forty-five minutes I noticed the cheering had dwindled a bit, I turned to see Hermione, fast asleep, her head rested on my shoulder. She must have been up all night knitting again.

I let her sleep, watching in suspense as Ron was named the new Gryffindor Keeper, I celebrated silently, not wanting to wake her up, but eventually I pet her hair and she shuddered awake, I waited a beat then said, "You head back, I'm going to go congratulate him" She nodded and started walking back.

"You did it you ginger genius" I said shaking him, he had a wide smile, the twins were dancing around him very loudly cheering him, "Did Hermione come?" he asked, I nodded "Yep, she saw the whole thing, she was very impressed." I half lied.

He grinned widely "Good, where is she?" I pointed back to the castle "She's heading back early, homework, you know how she is, C'mon, I'll buy you a butterbeer." We spent the next half an hour partying with the twins.

It all started with a round of butterbeer on me, not that I partook, eventually making our way to the common room and meeting Hermione. She was basically asleep but smiled when she saw us.

She congratulated Ron, who was beaming and then I handed her some butterbeer, she took in gratefully, but she was dozing off already, so I placed it down beside her and left her. Harry arrived a short time later, of course, Ron rushed to his side.

"Harry, I did it, I'm in, I'm Keeper!" "What? Oh — brilliant!" said Harry, trying to smile naturally, but failing miserably, I didn't need to probe his brain to know why he was in pain "Have a butterbeer." Ron pressed a bottle onto him.

"I can't believe it — where's Hermione gone?" "She's there," said Fred, who was also swigging butterbeer, and pointed to an armchair by the fire, just were we had left her. She was dozing in it, her drink tipping precariously in her hand.

"Colin!" I whisper shouted, he strode over, I pointed to Hermione, he took a picture of it and nodded. "Perfect" I slipped him a galleon. "Well, she said she was pleased when I told her," said Ron, looking slightly put out.

"She was, she's just tired. Let her sleep," I said, He shrugged "Come here, Ron, and see if Oliver's old robes fit you," called Katie Bell. "We can take off his name and put yours on instead. . . ." And he was dragged away by his enthusiastic new teammates.

"It was quite the debut, he didn't eat any snitches, but he did headbutt the quaffle once" I joked, Harry and I made our way over to the chairs next to Hermione. She awoke quietly, "Oh, (Y/N) Harry, it's you. . . . Good about Ron, isn't it?" she said blearily.

"I'm just so — so — so tired," she yawned. "I was up until one o'clock making more hats. They're disappearing like mad!" "I knew it." Harry looked like he really wanted to tell us something, eventually he caved "Listen, I was just up in Umbridge's office and she touched my arm . . ."

He explained to us that his scar had bothered him when he did, and ever since "You're worried that You-Know-Who's controlling her like he controlled Quirrell?" "I hope so, quick Harry, go melt her with the power of love" I joked.

"Well," said Harry, dropping his voice, "it's a possibility, isn't it?" "I suppose so," said Hermione, though she sounded unconvinced. "But I don't think he can be possessing her the way he possessed Quirrell, I mean, he's properly alive again now, isn't he, he's got his own body, he wouldn't need to share someone else's."

"She could have her under the Imperius Curse, I suppose. . . ." "Or she's a Death Eater, It would make sense" "But last year your scar hurt when nobody was touching you, maybe this hasn't got anything to do with Umbridge at all."

"Maybe it's just coincidence it happened while you were with her?" "She's evil," said Harry flatly. "Twisted." I agreed, Hermione frowned, "She's horrible, yes, but . . . Harry, I think you ought to tell Dumbledore your scar hurt."

He frowned and said the same thin to her that he said to me "I'm not bothering him with this. Like you just said, it's not a big deal. It's been hurting on and off all summer — it was just a bit worse tonight, that's all —" "Harry, I'm sure Dumbledore would want to be bothered by this —"

"Yeah," said Harry, before he could stop himself, "that's the only bit of me Dumbledore cares about, isn't it, my scar?" "Don't say that, it's not true!" "Yeah, I'm sure he likes you for other reasons too, like your devil may care attitude."

I smiled, they both frowned at me. "...and your eyes. You have pretty eyes." I said, trying my best to stifle laughter as the Weasley's returned and brought with them a great rush of happiness that washed over me.

"I think I'll write and tell Sirius about it, see what he thinks —" "Harry, you can't put something like that in a letter!" said Hermione, looking alarmed. "Don't you remember, Moody told us to be careful what we put in writing! We just can't guarantee owls aren't being intercepted anymore!" "All right, all right, I won't tell him, then!" said Harry irritably.

He got to his feet. "I'm going to bed. Tell Ron for me, will you?" "Oh no," said Hermione, looking relieved, "if you're going that means I can go without being rude too, I'm absolutely exhausted and I want to make some more hats tomorrow. Listen, you can help me if you like, it's quite fun, I'm getting better, I can do patterns and bobbles and all sorts of things now."

"Er . . . no, I don't think I will, thanks," he said. "Er — not tomorrow. I've got loads of homework to do. . . ." And he traipsed off to the boys' stairs, leaving her looking slightly disappointed behind him. I nudged her, "Don't worry, I'll try my hand at knitting with you, plus you still owe me that hat" I smiled. She nodded happily. I went and told Ron where they had gone while they made their way to their dorms. Leaving me to deal with their aftermath, as always.