A/N ~ Wattpad glitched and now my space bar isn't working well, so it's possible there might be some joined up words in this chapter😐 Enjoy :)

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"Everything all right, Arthur?" asked Mrs Weasley, after they had all greeted Mr Weasley and handed over their presents.

Even St Mungo's was entirely decorated for Christmas- and somehow seemed quite cheerful for a hospital.

"Fine, fine," said Mr Weasley, a little too heartily. "You- er- haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"

"No," said Mrs Weasley suspiciously. "why?"

"Nothing, nothing," said Mr Weasley airily, starting to unwrap his pile of gifts. "Oh, Y/N! This is wonderful, I've read about these- thank you!"

He had just opened Y/N's gift- a disposable camera.

"Arthur," Mrs Weasley said, with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap, "you've had your bandages changed. They told me they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."

"What?" said Mr Weasley, looking rather frightened and pulling the bed covers higher up his chest. "No, no- it's nothing, I-"

"Arthur..." Mrs Weasley said sternly. Mr Weasley seemed to deflate under her piercing gaze.

"Well, now don't get upset, Molly," he said hesitantly, "but Augustus Pye had an idea... He's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap-"

"Arthur, get to the point." Mrs Weasley snapped.

"He's very interested in using some- er- old Muggle remedies..." said Mr Weasley, "well, they're called stitches, Molly, and they work very well on- on Muggle wounds-"

Mrs Weasley let out an ominous noise somewhere between a shriek and a snarl.

Remus strolled away from the bed over to one of the windows and gazed out at the view, humming loudly to himself.

Bill muttered something about getting himself a cup of tea and Fred and George leapt up to accompany him, grinning.

"Well... well, I don't know whether you know what- what stitches are?" Mr Weasley asked his wife with a hopeful smile.

"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together," said Mrs Weasley with a snort of mirthless laughter, "but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid-"

"I fancy a cup of tea too," said Harry, jumping to his feet.

Y/N, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny almost sprinted to the door with him.

As it swung closed behind them, they heard Mrs Weasley shriek,

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA'?"

"Typical Dad," said Ginny, shaking her head as they set off up the corridor.

"Stitches," Ron huffed.

"Well, you know, they do work well on non-magical wounds," saidHermione fairly. "I wonder where the tearoom is?"

"Fifth floor," said Y/N, reading the sign above their heads.

The five walked over to the magical lift at the end of the corridor, but before they could step in, they were stopped by Ron's loud gasp.

Y/N jumped and her head spun to Ron's direction.

A man was standing at his side, peering at him as if he was in a trance.

The man had wavy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a broad vacant smile that revealed his straight white teeth.

"Professor Lockhart!" All of them exclaimed, gaping unbelievably at their ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Blimey!"

"Oh my goodness!"

"Well, hello there!" said Lockhart. "I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?"

"Hasn't changed much, has he?" Harry muttered to Y/N, who grinned.

She couldn't tell if he could remember them or not.

"How are you, Professor?" Ron asked rather guiltily, knowing that his old wand was the reason why Lockhart had lost his memory.

"Very well, thank you!" Lockhart replied brightly. "Now, how many autographs would you all like? I can do joined-up writing now, you know!"

But before any of them could answer, a head poked out of a door at the far end of the corridor and a voice said,

"Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you wandered off to?"

A motherly looking Healer wearing a tinsel wreath in her hair came hurrying up the corridor, smiling warmly at Harry and the others.

"Oh Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How lovely, and on ChristmasDay too!" she looked at the five kids brightly.

"We're doing autographs!" Gilderoy told the Healer with another glittering smile.

"That's lovely," said the Healer bitterly, before turning to the kids again. "Would you step this way? He's in a closed ward, you see."

"Er... that's-"

"But it is nice of you to have come to see him!" The Healer continued, "he never gets any visitors."

"Actually," said Ron, "we were just- er-"

But the Healer was smiling expectantly at them, and Ron's feeble mutter of 'going to have a cup of tea' trailed away into nothingness.

"Let's not stay long," Ginny said quietly.

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The long-term closed ward was very different to Mr Weasley's.

There were six patients in the ward and each of their beds were surrounded by a wall of white curtains.

Lockhart let the five of them to his corner of the room, which was filled with scribbled papers, reminding Y/N of a muggle nursery.

The Healer was now walking around handing out presents to all the patients.

"Here you are, Agnes," Y/N heard her whisper kindly to a patient two beds away from Lockhart.

"Now- how many autographs to we want?" Lockhart asked the five brightly.

Ron blinked blankly.

"Er... just one is enough-"

"How about a dozen!" Lockhart beamed, grabbing his quill and ink from his desk. "So your other friends at school wouldn't be left out!"

From the far opposite of the room, the Healer had approached a patient just by the entrance of the ward.

"And- oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?" she said kindly.

Harry's head spun round.

The curtains had been drawn back from the two beds at the end of the ward and two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds.

Neville and his grandmother.

With a sudden rush of understanding, Harry and Y/N realized who the people in the end beds must be.

Y/N spun around wildly for some distraction so that Neville could leave the ward unnoticed.

However, Ron had also looked up at the sound of the name 'Longbottom' too.

"Neville!" the redhead exclaimed.

Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him.

"It's us, Neville!" said Ron brightly, getting to his feet. "Have you seen? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"

"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" said Neville's grandmother, a short and stern looking lady with a dead eagle on her hat.

Neville looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here.

"Ah, yes," said his grandmother, looking closely at Harry and noticing his scar. "Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you."

"Er- thanks," said Harry, shaking hands with her.

Neville stared at his own feet, the color deepening in his face.

"And you two are clearly Weasleys," Mrs. Longbottom continued, shaking hands with Ron and Ginny in turn. "Yes, I know your parents- fine people, fine people... and you must be Hermione Granger?"

Hermione looked rather startled that Mrs Longbottom knew her name, but shook hands all the same.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Longbottom," she said sweetly.

"And you must be- ahh, Y/N Scamander..." said Mrs Longbottom.

The lady shook her hand, but, too Y/N's surprise, she looked at her rather in disgustedly.

"Here to visit your poor father at last, aren't you?" Mrs Longbottom snarled. "It's been- what- six months?"

Y/N felt as though the roof of the ward had fallen onto her at those words.

"Ah yes, Neville's told me your brother comes here every weekend... but you don't." Mrs Longbottom clicked her tongue.

Y/N was practically speechless.

He was there. In one of the beds... her father.

How could she be so daft?

She was convinced she was giving off the same expression as Neville was- as though she wanted to leave the place as soon as possible.

"Y/N Scamander?" The motherly Healer spun around and stared at Y/N for a few seconds. "Why, dear! Your father's this way, right here- why didn't you tell me you were here to visit him?"

Before Y/N could do anything, the Healer grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away from her friends, to the bed in the middle of the room.

Y/N tried to find an excuse to get herself out of there, but it was too late.

The Healer had already pulled open the curtains of the bed.

"Hello, Sean, guess who's finally here?" the Healer smiled kindly at the man on the bed. "It's your daughter, Sean... c'mon, dear."

She pushed Y/N into view. Y/N felt like she was petrified.

Her father was right there. Pale, skinny, and alive- with his usual warm eyes and puffy hair.

He was sitting on his bed, opening a present.

When Y/N came into view, he froze and looked up at his daughter blankly.

"I'll leave you two," The Healer smiled and left, closing the curtains behind her.

Sean Scamander looked into daughter's eyes and simply stared, as if he was digging into his memory to get a grasp of her name.

"Dad... Hi, dad..." Y/N didn't know for her life what to say- but she realized at that moment how much she'd missed him.

She slowly went over to sit on the stool next to his bed and stared at him speechlessly, as he watched her carefully.

"It's Y/N... it's me," Y/N slowly reached out to grab her father's hands shakily.

He jumped slightly when her warm hands touched his cold ones, but Y/N didn't care.

She grabbed her father's hands in hers and looked at him with hope.

"Please... say something," her voice sounded small and shaky, and she felt her throat tighten.

To her much delight, Sean's face broke into a gentle smile, but he didn't say anything.

He couldn't say anything.

"I'm so, so sorry," Y/N felt her warm tears sting her eyes. "I was a coward- I couldn't bare seeing you like this and I was bloody selfish. Rolf visited you every single week, and what- what did I do? I ran. I ran from the fact that you're- gone..."

The tears were out- rolling calmly down her face, as her hands shook uncontrollably around her father's.

Sean had a look of confusion on his face.

He pulled one hand away from Y/N's grip and reached it up to her face to brush her tears away, oblivious of what was happening.

"But I did it, dad." Y/N continued quietly, as more tears were formed. "I did what mum wanted me to do- to live on. I'm so happy with my friends and my- Harry. Remus is the best, and everyone's just so well..."

Sean was frowning slightly, but continued to let her hold his hands.

Y/N sniffed loudly and laughed through her fresh tears.

"I do kinda sound like a Niffler, don't I?" she said breathlessly.

Sean continued to look at his daughter as if she was a mildly interesting TV show.

Y/N broke her gaze from her father and pulled her hand away from his to wipe all her tears.

"I'm Gryffindor's Seeker, by the way," she sniffed, "Rolfie's mad about it. You'll probably see him soon."

"Well, we'd better get back," Y/N heard Neville's grandmother announce faintly from across the room.

"I've got to go now," she told her clueless father, "I'll come back. I promise. One day i'll be less of a coward and come visit you with Rolf- but not- not soon. Not yet. I- bye, dad."

As brief as she could, Y/N quickly hugged her dad, got up from her stool and left, without waiting for a reaction.

She didn't want to get attached.

She couldn't bare seeing him like that and she didn't want to be so desperate... to have hope. False hope.

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December quickly passed and so did New Year.

However, to Y/N's delight, Sirius' bright spirit remained, and so did the others.

It was like summer all over again, but with snow- which was a plus.

The kids have spent their last days playing in the snow, just right down the street of Grimmauld place.

Every day, Hermione refused to do anything other than homework, but the others slipped on their coats and hats right after lunch, before sprinting outside...

"Ouch-! Fred, I told you, no magic! It isn't fair-" Y/N's words were drowned by another giant snowball magicked by Fred, that hit her right in the face for the second time.

"Oi, that's enough!" Rolf exclaimed, as Y/N growled and dusted the snow from her shoulders and hair.

Fred, George, Ginny, Ron and Harry were howling with laughter.

"I'm not kidding," Rolf said heatedly, glaring at Fred. "you're doing it all wrong... here, let me demonstrate-"

Without any warning, Rolf grabbed the head of his snowman, which was watermelon sized, and chucked it right at his sister's face.

Y/N's yelp was drowned by the impact of the giant snowball and she fell backwards into the ankle-deep snow.

Luckily, her fall was cushioned by the snow- but it didn't make it her less pissed.

She expected the others' laughter to double up, but instead, everyone fell quiet... as if Rolf'd accidentally killed her.

Y/N pulled herself from the ground with difficulty, wondering why they'd all gotten quiet.

When she stood up, she understood why.

"Professor Snape," she acknowledged, more to herself than anything.

The Weasleys, Rolf, Ron and Harry stood in their spots with their mouths slightly parted, as they all stared at Severus Snape.

Tall and greasy-haired, standing right in front of them on the sidewalk with his black robes contrasting with the snow.

"Potter, follow me," the man said in a low voice.

Without waiting for Harry's reaction, he swept into the front lawn of Number Twelve and disappeared into the house.

"Er..." Harry looked at Y/N hesitantly, but she simply shrugged.

Harry glanced at his friends uneasily, before following Snape into the house.

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They were having one last dinner before the kids would go back to Hogwarts tomorrow.

Tonks, Kingsley and Mad-eye had also joined for the meal.

Everyone could tell Sirius felt slightly down that his godson and his friends were leaving...

"Harry, what did Snape want?"

"Professor Snape, Ron," Mrs Weasley scolded, as she passed Harry and Hermione a plate each.

"He's not a professor when he's out of school," Ron protested. "he's just any other bloke-"

Hermione threw him a warning look and kicked his leg under the table.

Ron looked up at her sourly and kicked back, smirking triumphantly as Hermione scowled.

"I- just that I need to take extra Potions lessons," Harry said, giving Ron a 'I'll tell you later' look, as the redhead and Hermione had a silent kicking fight under the table.

"When are Y/N and Remus serving the food?" George asked. "I'm starving."

"Why are Y/N and Lupin cooking anyway?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Remus wanted to have a godfather-and-daughter moment with her before she leaves," Tonks explained, smiling excitedly as the smell of food grew.

"Careful- careful, Y/N! Merlin!" Remus roared from the end of the kitchen.

Him and Y/N approached the dining table- both wearing aprons and holding at least three dishes in their arms.

Y/N chuckled, as she carefully placed Remus' stir-fried basil onto the table safely.

"This looks amazing!" Mrs Weasley beamed, helping the two with the dishes.

They both sighed in relief and cracked their knuckles, before removing their aprons and helping Mrs Weasley pass on the plates.

"Y/N made the Shepherd's Pie," Lupin said proudly, grinning at his goddaughter.

"I can tell," Rolf snorted, looking at the dish humorously.

Y/N threw him a sour look, before taking a seat next to Harry, who looked at the food excitedly.

Y/N turned to him and grinned at his excited expression, as Harry quickly took a bit from every dish.

Ron and Ginny had already started eating, letting out odd sounds of delight as they tried Y/N and Remus' food.

"Last day of winter break, huh?" Sirius sighed, looking down at his plate. "excited fro school, you lot?"

"'Ot wiv Umbih 'round, noh..." Ron said through his mouth full of pie.

Hermione looked at him bitterly and Mrs Weasley quickly scolded,

"Don't speak when you're eating, Ronald Weasley!"

After that, they ate dinner for a full half hour.

Once the food was gone, they all discussed happily about school, Quidditch, Umbridge, their O.W.L.s, until it was a little over eleven.

After that, they all went up to bed and were all asleep by midnight.

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The next morning- their last day of winter break- everyone was woken up before 8am by Mrs Weasley, to pack their trunks and help Sirius clean the house.

It was almost noon, and Y/N was watching Harry pack, in their temporary room.

She'd finished packing a while ago and was sitting on her bed, leaning on a pile of stacked pillows and watching Harry struggle.

"Occlumency? What's Occlumency?" Y/N asked, when Harry told her about why Snape wanted to talk to him, the day before.

"Dunno, but it's supposed to help me keep Voldemort out of my mind," Harry shrugged, throwing his last pair of socks into his trunk.

One sock missed the trunk by an inch, making Harry let out a huff of frustration and got up to chuck the sock into its place.

"And why isn't Dumbledore teaching you this himself?" Y/N asked curiously.

"Have you been looking at the way he's avoiding me?" Harry muttered grimly.

Harry's mood ring flicker red for a split second.

It always did that, even when he was doing just fine.

Ron reckoned it was Voldemort, and Y/N had to agree with him, even though Hermione said it was entirely impossible.

When Harry and Y/N finally got all their things, they left their bedroom and down the stairs, with their trunks and Hedwig and Bamboo.

They arrived in the busy living room and Harry was pulled to the side by his godfather.

He had an unpleasant constricted sensation in his chest- he did not want to say goodbye to Sirius.

He had a bad feeling about this parting.

"I want you to take this," Sirius said quietly, thrusting a badly wrapped package into Harry's hands.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"A way of letting me know if Snape's giving you a hard time. No, don't open it in here!" said Sirius, with a wary look at Mrs. Weasley. "I doubt Molly would approve... just use it if you need me, all right?"

"Okay," said Harry, stowing the package away in the inside pocket of his jacket.

However, he knew he would never use whatever it was.

It would not be he, Harry, who lured Sirius from his place of safety, no matter how foully Snape treated him in his upcoming Occlumency classes.

"Let's go, then," said Sirius, clapping Harry on the shoulder and smiling grimly.

"Are you sure you can't come with us?" Y/N asked Tonks and Remus on the other hand, giving the both of them a pleading look.

"I'm afraid not..." Remus said, smiling sadly at his goddaughter, as Tonks gave her an apologetic look.

"The less, the merrier," Mad-eye grunted, when he heard the conversation as he walked by. "We don't want to draw much attention."

"Time to go, Y/N, Harry," Mrs Weasley said, beaming at Y/N and Harry from the group of Weasleys.

"Write to me- please," Y/N said, looking at Lupin especially.

"Believe me, I do try to," Lupin chuckled, as he pulled Y/N into a protective hug.

Y/N sighed and hugged him back tightly, smelling the usual smell of bakery from his coat.

She met Tonks' eye and they grinned at each other.

"I'll miss you, Y/N. Take care," said Remus, as they pulled away from the long embrace.

"Will miss you too, Moony... and you, Nymphadora-" Y/N chuckled, yanking Tonks into a bear-like hug.

The metamorphamus tensed up and her hair changed from hot pink to flaming red.

"Don't call me Nymphadora," she grumbled, but eventually broke into a smile and hugged Y/N back. "Good luck, Y/N- you're a Quidditch player, now!"

"Oh, don't rub it in," Rolf approached them with his trunk and owl cage.

Tonks and Y/N pulled away from each other with confused looks.

"I've been trying for four years and just got my spot," he complained, "you didn't even try and got the spot! Gryffindor's got veeery high standards, huh?"

"Cry about it," Y/N snapped, glaring at her brother intensely.

"Like how you'll cry after our next match?" Rolf snorted, folding his arms.

"-Four years-"

"-Low standards-"

"-Not with your greasy hands-"

"ENOUGH!" Tonks and Mrs Weasley bellowed at the same time... but with different reasons.

Fred and George had apparated right into Mad-eye Moody, making him drop his cane.

Though, Tonks was already laughing and shaking her head at the Scamanders, Mrs Weasley looked like she could kill a wizard.

"Chaos to the very end..." Sirius chuckled. "as a Marauder, I'm proud."

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"I'm glad you're finally back, Y/N," Hermione said brightly.

Y/N decided to move back to the girls' dormitory at Hogwarts, at least for the beginning of the term.

Harry wasn't too happy, but Y/N felt bad Hermione didn't have anyone with her.

They'd arrived back from dinner in the Great Hall and came back to their dorm to settle in and talk, until it was almost half passed eleven.

"Goodness, Hermione, how much wool do you have?" Y/N laughed, staring at Hermione's basket full of various colours of wool by her bed.

"Not enough, clearly," Hermione huffed, "there are still elves that hadn't been freed yet."

"You're getting progressively better at knitting, at least," Y/N complimented, glancing at the matcha green hat Hermione was currently working on.

"Thanks, Y/N." Hermione beamed. "Now, let's go to sleep. Classes start tomorrow."

"Ah, I've missed Hermy the alarm clock," Y/N teased, as she climbed into her bed and threw her scarlet blanket over her body. "don't need the one Tonks gave me-"

"Oh, stop it," said Hermione, but she was smiling, glad that her best friend was back.

"Good night!" Y/N said loudly, before Hermione could say anything else.

Meanwhile...

"I wish she were here," Harry groaned, rolling on his empty bed.

"She has a life, mate," Ron said, as he tucked himself under his covers.

"I know, and I clearly respect that," Harry said quietly, staring up at the ceiling of his four poster bed. "I don't like telling her this, Ron, because I know that pebble can't handle corny crap, but-"

"Pebble?" Ron snorted, but shut up when he earned a scowl from Harry.

"Everything about her..." Harry muttered, more to himself, then anything else. "I mean... do you know that- that feeling of pure joy, when you're with this one girl? Like, just her existence makes you happy. You'd do anything- and I mean anything- for her."

A beat of silence.

"Yeah..." Ron muttered under his breath into his pillow, as his mind wondered to a specific girl.

Her smile, her perfectionism, her pathetic hair- and as Harry said, just her existence is just... no.

She was his friend... and they were nothing alike.

"Ron? Ron, did you fall asleep?"

"Er- no. No, I don't know of that feeling." Ron shook his head soberly. "I... I think I'm gonna go to sleep... if that's ok."

"Right. Class tomorrow." said Harry. "Night, Ron."

"Yeah ... night, Harry."

And to Harry, it felt like the shortest night ever.

When he finally managed to fall asleep without Y/N, the next moment he knew, the sun was already rising...

Harry spent most of the day, dreading the evening- his first Occlumency lesson with Snape.

Firstly, he was greeted by Umbridge's torturous sight, as he entered the Great Hall with Ron, Hermione and Y/N for breakfast.

Their morning Potions lesson was also rough, as Snape was as unpleasant as ever- to Harry and Y/N, especially, for absolutely no reason.

Harry's mood was further lowered by the fact that members of the DA were continually approaching him in the corridors between classes.

They were asking hopefully whether there would be a meeting that night.

"I'll let you know when the next one is," Harry said over and over again, "but I can't do it tonight, I've got to go to- er- Remedial Potions."

You take Remedial Potions?" asked Zacharias Smith superciliously, having cornered Harry in the entrance hall after lunch. "Good Lord, you must be terrible, Snape doesn't usually give extra lessons, does he?"

"I can still hex him from here," said Y/N, when Zacharias walked back down the corridor.

"Don't bother." Harry said grimly.

However, his repetitive thought of the Occlumency lesson had caused him to manifest time to go by quicker than usual.

In no time, it was down to only ten minutes before his lesson.

"We'll wait for you in the library," Y/N told him, once Harry had gotten up and grabbed his wand and bag to leave. "whatever you do, don't get in trouble with him."

"I'm not going to g-"

Harry's face went red, for Y/N had pulled him by the collar of his shirt and quickly kissing him on the cheek.

She knew it was the least she could do to make him feel better, since he's been anxious all day.

"Alright?" she asked once more, as Harry stared back at her numbly. "Now go, Harold. You're going to be late."

Harry quickly nodded and left without another word.

An hour or two later, Harry found Y/N Ron and Hermione in the library, working on Umbridge's most recent ream of homework from their first day.

Other students, nearly all of them fifth years, sat at lamp-lit tables nearby, nosesclose to books, quills scratching feverishly, while the sky outside grew steadily blacker.

The only other sound was the slight squeaking of one of Madam Pince's the librarian's shoes.

Harry arrived at Y/N, Ron and Hermione's table and sat down quietly.

He was very white, and his scar seemed to be showing up more clearly than usual.

"How did it go?" Hermione whispered, looking concerned. "Are you all right, Harry?"

"Clearly not," Y/N said, touching the side of Harry's face. He wasn't warm, but rather, scarily cold. She jerked her hand slightly, before asking worriedly, "What'd Snape make you do?"

"He- he went into my mind and-" Harry paused for a second, wracking his memory. "he saw... everything I saw."

"Legilimency," Hermione nodded slowly, but Ron and Y/N were clueless.

"Listen, I've realized something," Harry lowered his voice and looked around cautiously before continuing, "The dreams I'm always having of the same place- I've recognize it... I think- maybe Voldemort's weapon is at the Ministry of Magic."

"Department of Mysteries?" Y/N cocked an eyebrow.

Her three friends looked at her with wide questioning eyes.

"How'd you know that?" Harry asked.

"You've been muttering in your sleep about some mystery, so I just guessed." Y/N explained.

"So what does this mean?" Ron asked quietly, after a short moment of silence.

Harry and Y/N shrugged, but Hermione let out a short huff.

"It means," the Muggle-born sighed, "that whatever this weapon is, we know for a fact that Voldemort doesn't have it... yet."

Suddenly and abruptly, Harry let out a loud hiss of pain, and his hand jumped to his forehead. Y/N looked at him in concern.

"Scar?" she asked gently, as Harry shut his eyes tight.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked, swapping glances with Ron.

"He's... happy. Voldemort." Harry managed out. "Something good- I mean- bad must've happened. I can feel it."

When they all woke up the following morning, they knew exactly why.

When they entered the Great Hall, Y/N found Neville hunched at the corner of the table with the Daily Prophet clutched in his hands.

He wasn't the only one who seemed upset or odd.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore were whispering to each other urgently and all the tables of all houses were buzzing with discussion.

"Neville, is everything alright?" Y/N asked her round-faced friend kindly, as she approached him at the Gryffindor table.

Neville simply shook his head and handed her the paper as he stared ahead, his face paler than ever.

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN: MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS "RALLYING POINT"FOR OLD DEATH EATERS

Antonin Dolohov, convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.

Augustus Rookwood, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic Secrets to HeWho-Must-Not-Be-Named.

But Y/N's eyes were drawn to the name under Rookwood-

Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom-

Y/N let out a sound between a growl of fury and a gasp.

"This is horrible- how could they let this happen-? Neville-" Y/N looked up to see that Neville had gotten up and stormed off.

She stared after the boy in pity.

Bellatrix had done unforgivable things to destroy his family.

What she did was so horrible, even Azkaban didn't even serve her right.

But now, she had escaped. Along with six other loyal death eaters.

"What's happening?" Ron asked Y/N, when she went back to sit with the rest of them at the middle of the table.

Y/N shook her head and handed him Neville's copy of the Daily Prophet.

Ron, Hermione and Harry huddled over the paper and scanned it quickly.

All their faces fell and breakfast didn't seem so appetising anymore.

"That's why Harry had a feeling You-Know-Who was happy," Hermione said thoughtfully. "this isn't good. These people are scary."

And to make matters worse for that day, Hagrid had came over to them after lunch and told them that he was on probation.

"You're on probation?" said Ron very loudly, so that many students passing looked around curiously. "Sorry- I mean- you're on probation?" he whispered.

"Yeah," said Hagrid sadly. "no more'n I expected, ter tell yeh the truth. Yeh migh' not've picked up on it, bu' that inspection didn' go too well, yeh know... " he sighed deeply.

Harry and Y/N looked at each other hopelessly, but managed to give Hagrid some comforting words.

"Nah, nah, 's alrigh'," Hagrid waved them off, shaking his massive head. "Better go back ter the salamanders. Come by when you can, Y/N, they're jus' growin'."

∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆

New signs had appeared on the house notice boards the morning after news of the Azkaban breakout:

"What's her problem?" Y/N said with a scowl of frustration. The red gem on her bracelet glowed red.

"We can't do anything about it," Hermione said sadly.

"So we're just supposed to watch the pink toad take over Hogwarts?" Ron demanded angrily.

"Short answer- yes." said Hermione cooly. "And continue with DA of course. That's the least we can do."

But none of them had time to actually arrange a DA meeting. Harry was busy with Occlumency, Ron and Hermione with Prefect duties.

Plus, both Ron and Y/N were frequently pulled to the side by Angelina Johnson for a mini meeting about Quidditch whenever she saw them in the common room.

"We can't book the field until mid February," Angelina announced, "but Y/N's able to borrow a pretty decent broom from a friend and she should start training now."

"But we can't book the field until-"

"Hogwarts grounds too confined for you?" Angelina raised her eyebrows. Y/N fell silent and shook her head. "Right. I'm not forcing you to, and I know you have your O.W.L.s coming up-"

"Wood didn't excuse us when we had our exams," Fred complained, but Angelina ignored him.

"-but we've to hurry, because we've got a match in March."

"Yes, I know. I'll find time." Y/N said, nodding robotically. "Can I go back to my studying now?"

Angelina eyed her for a moment, but finally nodded.

"Fine. Meeting dismissed." Angelina said swiftly.

"A conversation isn't necessarily a meeting, Ange," said George.

Y/N didn't wait to see what consequences George had to face from that.

She jumped off her chair and walking back to Harry and Hermione, with Ron following right behind her.

She caught Harry's eye and he grinned at her per usual, as she sat down un the rug next to him and Ron next to Hermione.

"Hey... how was your Occlumency lesson?" Y/N asked, as Harry reached his hand out to pull pillow fluff out of her hair.

"Well... it wasn't- that horrible-"

"You just got to work harder in your lessons, Harry." said Hermione grimly.

"I am working!" said Harry, nettled. "You try it sometime, Snape trying to get inside your head, it's not a bundle of laughs, you know!"

"Maybe..." said Ron slowly.

"Maybe what?" said Hermione rather snappishly.

"Maybe it's not Harry's fault he can't close his mind," said Ron darkly.

"What do you mean?" Y/N asked with a frown.

"Well, maybe Snape isn't really trying to help Harry..."

Harry, Y/N and Hermione stared at him.

Ron looked darkly and meaningfully between all of them.

"Maybe," he said again in a lower voice, "he's actually trying to open Harry's mind a bit wider... make it easier for You-Know-"

"Shut up, Ron," said Hermione angrily. "Dumbledore trusts Snape-"

"But why should I trust Dumbledore for his judgement of whether or not Snape is trustable?" said Ron impatiently.

"If we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't trust anyone." said Hermione, half of her face glowing from the reflection of the fireplace.

Ron still looked unsatisfied with her answer.

"no offense, but why should we trust Dumbledore? I mean-"

"Oh, Y/N, I've been meaning to ask you something." Harry said quietly, as Ron and Hermione continued to have a go at each other.

"OK, ask it then." Y/N grinned, shutting off Ron and Hermione's argument involuntarily.

"We've been together for two years now-" Harry started, but stopped himself, "I mean- if you count the year of- obvious tension-"

"Got it," Y/N laughed, making Harry laugh too.

"I just realized I never asked you this, so-" Harry took a deep breath, "since it'll line up with our Hogsmeade trip, do you want to go on a date with me on Valentine's day?"

He blabbered out the last part so quickly, that Y/N had to take a moment to process his words.

"Just- us, y'know..." he added.

"Oh. Ohhh, yes, of course I'll go with you," Y/N burst into laughter when Harry had a relieved look on his face. "What did you think I was going to say? No?"

"You love making fun of me, don't you?" Harry asked grimly. "But cross off the 'making fun of'..."

A moment of silence.

"Bloody- barbaric- bracelet!" Y/N hit her wrist repeatedly, for the pink jewel was flickering pink again, like it always did when Harry was around. "I was trying to be annoyed-! Don't look at me like that, Harry, your ring's doing the- same... thing..."

Y/N felt as though she'd stopped breathing.

Harry had abruptly leaned closer to her and drew out his right hand to cup the side of her face firmly.

Y/N held her breath as he pulled her close.

She felt his thumb glide along her bottom lip devilishly, as his green eyes sparkled behind his glasses.

He was smirking slightly in satisfaction; their noses were practically touching and their lips were an inch apart-

"But at the end of the day," Harry sighed sarcastically, finally pulling away from her. Y/N didn't know if she was relieved or frustrated. "your bloody barbaric bracelet is right, isn't it?"

Yes, the bloody barbaric bracelet was right.

∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆

It was the morning of February fourteenth, and there was a subtle layer of snow in Hosmeade Village.

Y/N and Hermione found Harry and Ron in front in front of the village, and approached them delightedly in their winter clothes.

"Good morning, Niff," Harry beamed at her, as she and Hermione approached him and Ron.

"Good morning," said Y/N plainly.

"Happy-"

"It's not my birthday," Y/N grinned teasingly, but it was too late.

Harry had already tugged her intimately by the waist, wrapping his arms around her body.

The next moment, Y/N found herself hugging him back with all his passion.

Y/N rolled her eyes and tried not to smile, as he finally pulled away and kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank Merlin you didn't start snogging," Ron huffed bitterly, crossing his arms. Harry raised his eyebrows,

"Thanks Ron, that reminds me-"

"Mate, if you dare-"

"I was only kidding," Harry laughed, as Ron made a disgusted face and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Where are you lot going?"

"W-we? Nowhere!" Hermione said quickly with her eyes wide. "What makes you think I'm Ron's Valentine?"

"No, no, I meant- individually." Harry explained.

"Oh," Hermione squeaked, as she and Ron blushed red.

"Where are you planning to go while we're gone?" Harry asked again.

"I'll just tag along with Fred and George," Ron shrugged, scratching the back of his neck.

"I'll just have a look at the thrift stores and coffeeshops," Hermione said quickly, not meeting Ron's eye. "when you two are done, would you come meet me at The Three Broomsticks at noon? I have something... arranged."

"Yeah, sure, we won't take long," Y/N grinned. She caught Harry's slightly raised brows and added, "I think..."

"Alright, I'm off then," Hermione announced, grinning at Y/N's last comment. "and don't worry... take your time. We've got the whole day."

"Yeah, I'm off too," Ron muttered, "and don't start snogging until I'm half a mile away."

"You better start sprinting then," Y/N teased.

Ron made a gagging noise and actually started sprinting, running down the snowy street and disappearing behind the corner of a small shop.

Hermione laughed and muttered a 'see you' to Y/N and Harry, before heading after Ron into a quiet stationary shop.

"So we're not going to start snogging?" Harry asked hopefully, grinning widely at Y/N, once their two friends left.

"I only said that to annoy Ron," Y/N excused herself.

Harry bursted into laughter and threw his arm around her shoulder, ruffling her hair playfully.

"Whatever, maybe next time... where do you wanna go?" He asked her, as they walked down the main path together.

"I've saved up some money, so literally- everywhere." Y/N grinned, feeling a sense of excitement in the pit of her stomach.

"Everywhere?"

"Everywhere." Y/N nodded enthusiastically.

And so, they did.

They went to all the shops they passed by, including Zonko's Joke Shop, Honeydukes, McFly's Broom Supplies, the post office, Dervish and Banges, then bought a pair of churros.

They finally ended up in Hog's Head, an inn and bar at the end of the village.

"Can I help you?" The barman grumbled, when Y/N and Harry entered the bar, laughing uncontrollably and clutching all their purchases, both breathless and cold. "You lot just here to laugh at me?"

Y/N and Harry fell silent and shifted their gaze to the old barman, that looked like a slightly younger Dumbledore.

"Er... we're sorry-"

"What's a young couple like you two doin' here?" the barman asked bitterly. "Why not join the others at Miss Bigfoot's cute little coffeeshop?"

Y/N and Harry stood rigid in their spots, not knowing what to say.

"Grandpa, go get some rest," a young man came rushing to the barman's side. He looked at Y/N and Harry apologetically. "sorry, he's having a bad day. Customers all gone-"

"Don't rub it in, Sebastian." the barman growled, but took his grandson's advice and stormed away to the back of the bar.

"Right. Sorry about my grandpa," said Sebastian, a young man with long dark hair, a pointy nose and big grey-ish-blue eyes. "So what can I get for you two?"

"I'll have a hot chocolate," Y/N smiled at the man kindly.

"Make that two," Harry said with a grin.

"With some cinnamon, if that's OK,"

"For both of them."

"So unoriginal," said Y/N, side eying Harry teasingly.

"I'll be right there," said Sabastian, nodding and giving the two a small smile.

The bar was indeed quite empty, with only Y/N and Harry and a few elderly wizards that sat by themselves in different corners.

Y/N and Harry found a seat at the back of the bar and sat down opposite of each other, feeling their legs and hands sighing with them as they let go of their bags of useless purchases.

"Damn," Y/N sighed, "my moneybag is barely noticeable in my pocket now-"

"Wait- oh no, I forgot to buy you a gift for Valentines!" Harry said suddenly, his eyes coated in panic.

"Hey, calm, Harold- I don't need a gift, Christmas was not long ago," Y/N said genuinely, wiggling her fingers and showing him her pebble ring.

"No, but Ron told me that's what everyone does-"

"Oh please, Ron can't even admit to his feelings for Hermione," Y/N chuckled. "and it's a weird tradition, really. Look, today was the best day I've had in quite a while."

"Me too," Harry whispered. A relieved smile appeared on his lips as he continued, "c'mere closer, I have something to tell you."

Y/N raised her eyebrows slightly, but leaned forward, crossing her arms and resting them on the small table.

She looked at Harry curiously and watched as he looked around cautiously, before leaning closer to her to whisper something to her.

Only, he didn't.

Instead, he snaked both of his hands between her jaws and neck and kissed her passionately.

Y/N closed her eyes and felt chills crawl down her spine, as Harry gently pressed his lips against hers, kissing her as he had never did before.

She kissed him back, feeling her heart ache from the amount of care she had for him.

They moved in sync, Harry caressing Y/N with his hands like she was going to break, and Y/N gently biting his bottom lip.

They understood each other completely, without saying any words.

"Ring," Y/N said breathlessly, when Harry pulled away for a split second- glancing down at his mood ring that was now glowing pink.

Harry grinned, unbothered, and connected their lips again, tangling the tips of his fingers in her hair-

"Sorry for interrupting you guys, but your hot chocolates are here."

Y/N and Harry jumped apart at the barman's grandson's voice, looking away and blushing to themselves.

Sebastian grinned at the two, his eyes sparkling, and placed their mugs of hot chocolate with cinnamon on the small table. Y/N and Harry muttered him a polite 'thank you'.

"Happy Valentines Day," said Sebastian, looking between them knowingly, before heading back to the front of the bar.

"Dunno who that man is, but I like him already." Y/N said, and Harry nodded in agreement, still pink in the face, matching right with his ring.

∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆

"Watch where you're going-!"

"Eyes on the road, you clueless-! Niff?"

"Rolf?"

Y/N stared at her brother as Harry helped her up from the snow-covered ground.

She'd bumped into him right in front of The Three Broomsticks.

He was in winter clothes, like everybody else, and with Luna, humming dreamily behind him.

"Oh, Hi Y/N, Hi Harry," Luna greeted the two cheerfully.

"Woah, hold on..." Y/N blinked several times and looked between her tall brother and the small Ravenclaw in a bright turquoise sweater.

"I was just about to go in there to meet with Hermione. She wanted my help." said Luna in her usual dreamy voice. "where've you been to?"

"We've been... everywhere." said Harry, catching Y/N's grin and chuckling to himself.

"That's nice," Luna acknowledged. "let's find Hermione then, shall we? I'll meet you at Zonko's later, Rolf."

"Oh, OK..." said Rolf, still confused by the whole situation.

Luna flashed him a sweet smile and entered the pub, leaving Rolf standing rigid outside, with Y/N and Harry following her behind.

The Three Broomsticks was much more crowded than Hog's Head, but probably not as crowded as Madam Puddifoot's Coffeeshop.

It was dimly lit and people's voices were buzzing from every direction.

"So what's up with you and my brother?" Y/N caught up with Luna, wiggling her eyebrows at her.

"He's so incredibly nice," Luna said seriously, "he stands up for me- he's incredibly warmhearted, and he's my friend. Never had any of those."

"Well, now you have lots," Y/N said brightly, smiling at the blonde girl, as Harry lingered after them.

"I can see... the charm runs in the family," said Luna, beaming at Y/N with gratitude.

"Y/N! Harry! Luna!" Hermione called from a corner.

She was sitting comfortably in a seat with a butterbeer in her hand, and across form her, was Rita Skeeter.

The same Rita Skeeter that published countless articles during the Triwizard Tornement last year that contained nothing but bullshit.

Her short blonde hair that was usually curled now hung lank and greasy around her face, her lips weren't bright red anymore, but she still had her ugly crocodile-skin handbag.

Unemployment did not suit her well.

"Hello," Luna greeted Hermione and Rita, not bothering to ask any questions at all, as she sat down and started on her pre-ordered fruity drink.

"Had a good time, you two?" Hermione asked, as Y/N and Harry sat down on the seats between her and Rita.

"Ah, I knew the two of you had a thing," Rita said spitefully. "Hadn't changed much, have we, Miss Scamander? Mr Potter?"

"What are you up to?" Harry asked, staring around at the odd group of people in front of him.

"Little Miss Perfect was just about to tell me when you arrived," said Rita, taking a large slurp of her drink. "I suppose I'm allowed totalk to him, am I?" she shot at Hermione sarcastically.

"Yes, I suppose you are," said Hermione coolly. Rita ignored her completely.

"Pretty girl, isn't she, Harry?" Rita asked Harry, glancing at Y/N. "say, how long have you two been together-?"

"One more word about Harry's love life and the deal's off and that's a promise," said Hermione irritably.

"What deal?" asked Rita, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand."You haven't mentioned a deal yet, Miss Prissy, you just told me to turnup. Oh, one of these days-"

"Yes, yes, one of these days you'll write more horrible stories about Harry," said Hermione indifferently. "Find someone who cares, why don't you?"

Y/N and Harry looked from Hermione to Rita, and then back to Hermione again.

"They've run plenty of horrible stories about Harry this year already, without my help," said Rita, shooting a sideways look at him over thetop of her glass.

"Ah yes, I'm aware," Hermione huffed, "he's told the Minister of Magic the truth and the Minister'stoo much of an idiot to believe him."

"So you actually stick to it, do you, that He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named is back?" asked Rita, "What's the evidence?"

"There were a dozen-odd Death Eaters there, that night in the maze." Harry snarled boldly. "Want their names?"

"I'd love them." said Rita, before fumbling in her crocodile skin bag and pulling out her Quick-Quotes Quill.

It immediately started to scribble onto a piece of floating parchment paper.

'Teenage survivor of You-KnowWho's attack, Harry Potter, 15, caused outrage yesterday by accusing respectable and prominent members of the Wizarding community of beingDeath Eaters...'

Rita stopped suddenly and her face fell.

"But of course," she said, lowering the quill and looking daggers at Hermione, "Little Miss Perfect wouldn't want that story out there,would she?"

"As a matter of fact," said Hermione sweetly, "that's exactly what Little Miss Perfect does want."

Rita stared at her. So did Harry and Y/N.

Luna, on the other hand, sang, 'Weasley Is Our King' dreamily under her breath and stirred her drink with a cocktail onion on a stick.

"You want me to report what he says about He-Who-Must-Not Be-Named?" Rita asked Hermione in a hushed voice.

"Yes, I do," said Hermione. "The true story. All the facts. Exactly as Harry reports them. He'll give you all the details, he'll tell you the names of the undiscovered Death Eaters he saw there."

A smile appeared on Y/N's face and she slowly nodded, understanding what Hermione wanted.

"The Daily Prophet would never print that, you silly girl," said Rita.

"But Luna here, has a father who's an editor of The Quibbler." said Hermione, giving Luna a small smile. "her father has agreed to help us."

Rita stared at them both for a moment and then let out a great whoop of laughter.

"The Quibbler!" she said, cackling. "You think people will take him seriously if he's published in The Quibbler?"

"Some people won't," Hermione said plainly, "but the Prophet's been suspicious these days- people would turn to any alternatives."

"I'm supposed to do this for free?" Rita demanded.

"Well, yes," said Hermione calmly, taking a sip of her drink. "Otherwise, as you very well know, I will inform the authorities that you arean unregistered Animagus."

Rita looked like she was fighting a very strong urge to thrust her drink in Hermione's face.

"I don't suppose I've got any choice, have I?" said Rita, her voice shaking slightly.

"Daddy will be pleased," said Luna brightly. A muscle twitched inRita's jaw.

"Okay, Harry?" said Hermione, turning to him. "Ready to tell the public the truth?"

"I suppose," said Harry, watching Rita balancing her quill at the ready on the parchment between them.

"Fire away, then, Rita," said Hermione serenely, fishing a cherry out of the bottom of her glass. 

∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆

A/N - Not a huge fan of Valentine's day, so I'm sorry for disappointing some of y'all :/

If you haven't already, you can go check out my TikTok @fredspukingpastille for The Boy Who Loved related stuff.

If you have any questions, just comment them here- I'll try answering all of them :) have a great day!!

-ScribblingQuills