Chapter 27

Bea was sure that the Christmas break went in so quickly that whenever she blinked, days would pass before she opened her eyes again. On New Years Eve, her friends held a party in the Gryffindor common room and she helped Beau charm Remus' record player that he had sneaked into the castle to play their favourite muggle records.

But really, half of her and Remus' time was spent arguing over which song to play next.

The other half was spent dancing with her friends and drinking fire whiskey from the bottles that Sirius and Peter had elaborately stolen. It seemed rats tails were very useful to pick locks, considering charms were placed upon Filch's cupboard that alerted the use of the alohomora spell, and Peter had tried it a few times.

Sirius was raving about the boy as they returned to the common room, shouting praises that his animagus was the best out of all of theirs when he was alone with the boys and everyone else couldn't hear him and even telling Bea who cheered for the boy blushing whilst he laughed and handed bottles to their friends.

James was rather clingy when he was drunk, Bea noticed - and she had also realised that it was the most adorable thing. When Remus decided he wanted to dance with his boyfriend, he had put on a slow song and pushed Lily out of the way of Sirius just so he could dance with him.

Lily ended up dancing with Beau, and neither of them were complaining.

Bertie, Vi and Peter all danced together, trying to figure out if it was possible for the three of them to slow dance altogether and it worked out quite well.

But Bea was happier than ever as she danced with James, her head on his shoulder and his nuzzled into her neck, whispering compliments with every kiss on her skin, and when the clock struck midnight, neither of them let go of the kiss they shared, ending up getting shouted at by their groaning friends whilst Bea merely flipped them off and wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.

The carriages with the other students returning from Christmas break had just arrived at the castle and as she walked down the hallway with Violet on her way to the great hall, she wasn't sure if the unsettling feeling in her stomach should be there or not.

She didn't know why she was nervous about the return of her peers, there was just something nice about the quietness of the castle that had her already missing it. She wondered if when she was older she would be able to afford a castle of the same size that she could share with all of her friends, it sounded like a nice thought that put a smile on her face instead of the frown.

Thinking of her future was always able to ease her because she could have one. She was going to have a future, she didn't sacrifice that opportunity all those months ago and she could say proudly that she was ready to live her life any way she wanted.

She knew that the wizarding world was scary, that her sadness was terrifying and the fact that she almost died was always going to be a possibility in years to come because of the looming presence of the battle against muggleborn's.

She would fight when she left school, she had decided that not long ago. Because she had a best friend who was a muggleborn, and she knew muggleborn's and regardless of if she knew any or not, it was the right thing to do.

Her mother was a muggle, and she was such an incredible woman and she had muggle blood in her veins and regardless of that - no one deserved to be fought against for something they couldn't control.

"Where are the boys?" asked Violet as they walked, arms linked and smiles on their lips and Bea shrugged.

"I think they're setting up for an elaborate prank on Severus Snape. Just before the holidays he was being particularly nasty to a few muggleborn's and Sirius caught him," Bea said.

"Are you alright with their pranks?"

"I mean...most of them are harmless. They've all grown up a bit, their pranks are for fun and I've noticed that their "victims" actually laugh if they're caught up in them...course Severus is a bit different considering they hate him and always have and if I was a part of their pranks I don't think I'd be too fond of him terrorising muggleborn's," she scowled.

"That's true actually," Violet agreed with a chuckle, "I saw them laughing with some guy...I didn't even know the guy and they were all just laughing at something, I think it was a prank."

"They're all idiots," Bea giggled, linking her arms with Violet as they walked. She pulled on Bertie's arm when he caught up with them, taking his hand in hers whilst they walked and the three of them chatted about the year ahead, of what they could do to make it more fun considering Bea could hardly have fun previous to Christmas.

She was so happy that her life was coming back to her, that regardless of any bad days she could have, she would still smile and laugh and have fun and be happier than she used to be because she was growing every single day and she was sure that every day her smile grew a little wider than before and her laughter was louder and longer, and her jokes were funnier and she was slowly becoming the girl she always longed to be.

She squeaked when two arms slid around her waist, pulling her from Bertie and Violet and into someone behind her who pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek, "I missed you."

"Oh, you're such a hopeless romantic, James Potter," she grumbled, clutching a hand over her heart, "I was ready to have a heart attack because of you!"

"Sorry about it...it's just natural instinct you see."

"Natural instinct?" she repeated, brow raised when she turned her head to face him.

"Yeah! I see my beautiful girlfriend, I have to hold my beautiful girlfriend," he shrugged with a smirk and she rolled her eyes.

"What natural instinct does that class as?"

"The instinct of love!" he sang, capturing her lips on his own whilst she giggled.

"You are something else," she snorted, moving his hands from her stomach to lace her own with his, and pulling him with her, "so where are our wonderful friends?"

"Last minute adjustments," James said, "for tomorrow, of course. Can't do it on the day of the feast - McGonagall would have our heads. I think she's used to second day back pranks though, so the detention might not be too bad if we do get caught. But we'll have an alibi tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?"

"Well if my incredibly, wonderful, beautiful, amazing, girlfriend agrees to play along...then yeah!"

"What have I told you about roping me into your pranks!" she chided, eyes narrowed to slits as they walked into the great hall.

She wondered then why she hadn't decided to make some more friends in Hufflepuff, considering most of her friends were Gryffindor's and Beau was going to go off to the Ravenclaw table...it would leave her entirely alone.

"Well," she whispered, butterflies erupting in her stomach. She was happiest with her friends, safe even, that's how she felt...but now she'd be going off on her own and she knew it was only to the Hufflepuff table that she sat at almost every day, but there was something off about it.

She didn't want to be alone.

"Come on," James whispered in her ear, tightening his grip on her hand, "I'll walk you over."

"No, no," she furiously shook her head, turning to kiss him softly, "I should be able to walk over there myself, James."

"You don't need to do anything on your own if you don't want to," he frowned.

"I know," a smile fell onto her lips, "but I need to do it, for me, because I should be able to and one day I'll come in here and no one will be there to walk me over, so this is practice for then."

He kissed her once more, "brave, brave, Bumble."

She smiled, "I love you. I'll see you after the feast."

He lifted her chin, looking into her eyes, "if you feel overwhelmed...if you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable...then come over to the Gryffindor table. I don't care if it's not allowed, I don't care what any of the professors say, but I'm not having you feeling terrible."

She nodded, and her friends piped in to agree with James' words, "yeah Dumbledore can fight me if he thinks he's going to punish you for that!"

"You're going to fight Dumbledore?" Bea asked Violet, failing to hold in her giggles when the girl nodded.

"He's an old man, what can he do!"

"Ah, Miss Brown," Bea, as well as her friend's eye's widened at the voice behind them, turning to meet the man, "I may be old in my days...but I have been known to be very skilled in the muggle art of karate."

Bea covered her mouth with her hand to keep in her smirk, "but you are right, Miss Brown - and Mr Potter, of course. If you feel at all alone...or uncomfortable...then please Miss Lupin, join your friends."

She nodded her head once, "thank you, Professor. But I think I should be able to sit with my house...I've known them for five years after all."

"Very well!" Dumbledore nodded, giving her a smile of approval, "you really are a very brave witch."

She smiled as he passed, and Bertie was the first one to burst out laughing, saying between breaths of the look on Violet's face.

"She...she almost - she almost had a heart attack!" he was wheezing, buckled over in convulsions of laughter.

But Violet was hardly listening to a word he said, instead looking at Dumbledore gliding down to the Professor's table in slight shock, "...he knows...Karate?"

"You'd think after five...and six years at this school," Bea said, "Dumbledore wouldn't be able to get any weirder."

"Yeah..." Violet could only nod.

"Alright, I'll see you later," Bea took a deep breath, kissing James' cheek and bidding them a quick goodbye.

She could do it, she could. She had sat with these students for years, talked to almost all of them - maybe excluding the first years that had arrived for this year, but she still knew their faces. The spot she took wasn't exactly empty, and the stares of students around her lingered for more moments than she wished.

She wondered why, why they were staring longer than usual. Usually, over the year they tried their best not to make eye contact, instead looking the other way from her and keeping their head down and talking to a minimum.

But then, "oh my goodness, Bea!" the girl, familiar she was, and her name was Stacy. She was in the year below Bea and cheery as ever. Bea's eyes lifted at the sight of her, a small kind smile finally tugging at her lips at the sight of her, "your hair!"

That was it, she realised...her hair.

"Oh, my goodness, you know I missed it. You suited it dark, but the lighter is a classic Bea look," she fell onto the spot across from Bea, chatting excitedly to her, "I love your hair, it's always been so nice. I wish I could have a brighter colour."

"I think you would suit blonde!" Bea grinned, and she noticed Stacy brighten at the sound of her voice, and she was sure the chatter at the Hufflepuff table had gotten happier when they heard her...knowing they didn't need to be quiet from her and as she talked to Stacy, a lot more of her peers had complimented her.

"Blonde?!" Stacy gasped, clutching at her black hair, "oh...I don't think so...do you really think blonde?"

"I definitely do," Bea nodded furiously, "it's different, isn't it? you know, I know the spell to dye hair, I could dye yours. If you don't like it, I'll dye it back?"

"You would do that for me, Bea?" Stacy asked with a wide smile.

"Of course, Stacy!" she nodded, feeling the comfortable feeling of the Hufflepuff house engulfing her, and she smiled brightly.