A/N-

Wow. I am sorry for the three week wait for this update. I was on holiday and then even when I came back I didn't have time to update. Sorry, it's been a busy week. Anyway, I finally got round to it. I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 30 (Ava)

I had lied.

I had lied to Fred and George because I wanted to protect them. How would Fred have felt if he’d have known that he was the reason that I’d agreed to complete the mission? I’d had to pretend that really I had been forced by the Death Eaters to do it, that there was no other way out.

And I’d hardly mentioned Draco.

I knew the twins hated him, and if they knew that he’d been the one to betray me to Lord Voldemort, they would have gone after him for sure.

I ducked into the shadows as a prefect walked past. My cloak made me blend in with the dark shadows around me.

It had been strange to see Fred again. After all this time- nearly a year- of not seeing him, he had looked different. He was taller for a start, but then so was I. His ginger hair was a bit longer, but it suited him like that- pushed up and out of his face. He had just a few more freckles on his face as well.

I had missed him.

I arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin common room and muttered the password quietly. The door swung open and I ducked in before any other prefects would see me.

The room was empty, to my relief. I made my way over to my dormitory and crept in, trying not to wake anyone up.

I was surprised to see an envelope sitting on my bed with my name on it. I walked over to my bed and picked it up. I hadn’t received a letter in a long time.

I sat down and pulled my wand out of my pocket,

“Lumos.”

My wand lit up the envelope in my hand, and I opened it cautiously. I didn’t recognise the handwriting, or at least I didn’t remember it.

Dear Ava,

I apologise- I may have given you a fright a few nights ago when I appeared in the fire.

Ah- it was a letter from Remus. I read on.

I had wanted to respond to your letter about the photograph, but I wasn’t sure how to write it in a letter. Somehow, Sirius always seemed better at that than I am.

I thought talking to you face-to-face would be better as I haven’t seen you in so long. I just caught you at the wrong moment.

I really am glad that you liked the photograph. That was a beautiful day, one of the best ones I experienced in the weeks before the war started. I hope that the memory stays with you.

Speak soon,

Remus

I stared at the letter and re-read it just to make sure it was right.

I hadn’t seen Remus in over a year and yet he had written the letter to me as if we spoke regularly.

I realised with a sudden gulp that I missed him dearly. He had been an uncle figure to me both when I was younger and when we had been reunited last year.

How had he been coping with Sirius’ death? The thought made me flinch and I closed my eyes to block it out.

Taking a shaky breath, I held the letter to my chest, curled up on my bed and drifted into a fitful night’s sleep.

*                    *                    *

“Miss. Potter.”

My head slipped off of the palm of my hand and I jerked awake. I gasped quietly when I realised Professor Snape was standing over my desk, his expression stern.

“S-sorry Professor-”

“Miss. Potter,” Snape interrupted, “can you tell me a spell that one would use to protect themselves against a dementor?”

I gulped,

“That would be a p-patronus, sir.”

“Correct, Miss. Potter. Would you be able to cast this spell for me now, in front of the whole class?”

I stood up, my heart pounding. All eyes were on me. This was the class of seventh years, so I didn’t really know the pupils. Some students had smirks on their faces, others watched me in pity.

I pulled my wand out of my pocket and closed my eyes, trying to think of the happiest memories that I could. I remembered that last year, when we had been doing Dumbledore’s Army, it had taken more than one happy memory to make the spell successful.

Memories started to flood into my mind, but they weren’t happy enough. For every happy memory, a horrible one would come crashing into my brain.

“Expecto Patronum!” I tried.

A silvery wisp came out of the tip of my wand, but that was all. I took a deep breath and tried again. Still nothing happened.

I tried to stop the tears from escaping as I racked my brains for a memory- any memory- that could help me to produce a Patronus.

“Well, Miss. Potter, it appears that sleeping in my lessons hasn’t been paying off-”

Picnic in the park. The memory filled my mind like fresh water flowing into a lake. My parents, Remus and Sirius’ smiling faces were the last things I saw as I shouted,

“Expecto Patronum!”

I opened my eyes and a silvery phoenix exploded from the tip of my wand, soaring over the heads of the other students.

Everyone gasped and watched in wonder as the phoenix flew towards the window. A few students reached up to touch the bird.

I turned to face Professor Snape, a smile on my face. I expected him to shout at me for interrupting him, but he merely raised an eyebrow,

“Perhaps if you stayed awake in my lessons, you would have been able to complete the spell on the first try.”

I shrugged just as the bell went, and started to pick my books up from the table. I filed out of the classroom with everyone else, and a couple of students smiled at me on the way out.

I caught sight of Neville in the corridor ahead of me and ran up to him. His head was down in thought, but when I tapped him on the shoulder, his face broke into a smile.

“Ava! I just had the best Herbology lesson. We’re starting projects on rare breeds of plants and there was such a great variety in the greenhouse! I think I’ve picked a good one though.”

I grinned just as he said,

“Anyway, why do you look so happy?”

I laughed,

“Professor Snape asked me to cast a Patronus in Defence Against the Dark Arts because I fell asleep. The first two times I couldn’t do it, and just as he was about to tell me off, I managed to do it. That showed him!”

“Dumbledore’s Army really paid off, didn’t it?”

I nodded at Neville, a smile still on my face,

“Yes, it really did.”