Song (for Libby POV): Hello? By Clairo & Rejjie Snow

"Hurry hurry! He'll follow us for sure!" I whisper at the girls, in a strained voice. My heart is beating wildly in my chest; my palms are incredibly sweaty, too.

"Oh now we're hurrying? As if being late to D.A. wasn't enough," Susie retorts with annoyance. Her mouth sets in a straight line, while Hannah seems to keep stealing curious glances at me.

I can tell her mind is just turning with curiosity at what just happened moments ago with Draco. It was her first time seeing me really interact with him... besides at the party, but she was drunk then.

We make it up to the large doors, and I sigh in relief. I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get in, but it must only shift into a broom closet if it's people we don't want coming in. Then we hear the clicking of hard shoes coming from the stairwell.

Opening the door, the girls and I rush in, slightly frazzled that we almost got caught by Draco.

I smile softly at the girls until I realize how deadly silent it is. Shifting my gaze from my two friends to the whole room, I see everyone's eyes are trained on us. Some are looking at us with an unfazed expression while others are giving us dirty looks.

"Is everything alright?" I hear Harry ask. He's making his way over towards us with a concerned look on his face.

I glance at Susie and Hannah before looking back at him.

"Sorry we're late...we got stopped by Draco in the hall." A few gasps resound within the room, but Harry's expression remains the same. "He suspected we were up to something, but we managed to get away from him before he discovered anything."

"Bloody hell," I hear Ron mutter loudly. Him and Hermione are now standing right beside Harry.

Harry gnaws at his lip, bringing his hand up to his forehead in thought. "Once Malfoy knows, we're done. It's over for us."

Hermione places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He's not going to find out. Libby—" she shifts her gaze up to me, "—is there a reason why he was suspicious? Was it because you three were in a group coming up here or was it something else?"

"Perhaps that, but I think it was mainly because I said we were studying together, and we had no books with us." I feel my cheeks burn a bit as I'm being put on the spot. I'm unsure why Hannah isn't doing the talking, or even Susie.

Harry's eyes flicker up at me before an idea must pop into his brain. He turns his body towards the others, who are still watching with intent eyes and ears.

"From now on, I want everyone to bring books, materials, whatever you use to study to our D.A. meetings. We cannot afford Malfoy or anyone apart of Umbridge's squad to find out about us. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone nods along to his command before he clears out his throat and hesitantly smiles, "alright, yes, let's get back to work, shall we?"

People slowly go back to what they were doing before. Harry then looks back over towards us with a soft smile.

"Since it's the last practice before our Christmas break, we're just going over all the defensive spells and charms we've learned so far. Feel free to work on whatever."

We all nod along, but before Harry leaves, he whispers to me, "oh—Libby—I didn't get a chance to thank you for helping us not get caught the other night when we came out late. I'm sure you hated it, but it's greatly appreciated."

I feel a blush creep onto my cheeks as I mumble an, "of course."

Little does he know, I really didn't hate kissing Draco at all. Although, I'm pretty sure Draco did.

He gives me a shy smile, oblivious to my blushing, before walking around and helping the others. I shift my gaze over to my friends who are practicing Expelliarmus on one another.

Pulling out my wand, I point it at Hannah and say, "Expelliarmus." It flies out her hand, landing on the floor with a clank. She turns her head with her usual playful glare.

"Libby!" she squeals out at me before walking over towards her wand and grabbing it. I watch as she shoves it into her pocket before making her way beside me. Susie crosses her arms in annoyance.

"Hannah we're not done. I need to practice more!"

She looks over at Susie and nudges her head towards me.

"Practice with Libby. I'm done for now." I give her an incredulous look since she hasn't really started practicing. Then it clicks. She wants to talk about what just happened in the hallway with Draco.

Rolling my eyes at Hannah, I position myself in a line, aways from where Susie is standing. I give her a quick smile and nod before we begin practicing on one another. I'm a bit quicker at doing the motion and saying the charm than she is as I knock the wand out of her hand multiple times. I've had more practice with this charm, and others, as Nymphi and I would do secret duels here and there over the summers. It was the only time my parents have allowed me to use magic outside of school.

She lets out a sigh after the fifth time of me disarming her. Hannah is watching us as well as taking glances over towards Neville and Colin Creevey. Neville seems to have mastered the charm, Stupefy, as Colin gets thrown back towards a wall with a groan.

I watch as she flashes him a big smile before she looks back over towards us.

"Hannah, maybe you should practice with Susie. I need to take a break, and you seem to keep getting distracted," I suggest giving her a playful smile.

She gives me a look that seems to say "whatever" as she retorts back with, "I'd rather talk about what happened before with Malfoy. There was so much chemistry between you and him!"

Susie walks over towards us as I say, feeling heat rise to my cheeks yet again, "that's so not true."

"I have to agree with Hannah on this one," Susie says with a sheepish smile which causes Hannah to smirk even more.

I roll my eyes at the pair. "There's nothing between Draco and I. Alright." I let my annoyance get the best of me as I snap at both of them. Hannah doesn't take the hint—or she's choosing to ignore it, as she just crosses her arms while pursing her lips.

"I don't believe you. Malfoy never would have let us off the hook with how you talked back to him. He may not have ever given us the time of day, but that's because we've never bothered to talk to him or even go near him. With you, he seems to latch onto every word you say which is so bizarre." She shifts her eyes around as if making sure no one is listening in. "By the way, how has that project been going with him?"

I twirl my wand in my hands, feeling every groove and bump.

"Fine. It's going fine." She shorts at my answer, clearly not happy with how short of a response it is. I glance up with a soft smile. "He's not bad to work with. He's really helped me get a better grasp on Potions...even more so."

"Really? He doesn't goof off or make you do all the work?" Her voice is full of surprise as she asks. I shake my head, 'no' at her questions.

I glance briefly at Susie who's been listening eagerly. She knows a lot more than Hannah, but she's doing a good job covering it up by also masking a look of shock.

"He's quite studious. Perhaps it's because it is his best subject."

I look over to where Harry is demonstrating a movement with Cho; he's directly behind her as he guides her arm holding her wand. She giggles as he shows her once more, and I can see a blush forming on his cheeks as she leans back closer to him.

I shift my gaze back down to my wand.

Why couldn't he be like that? Sweet and gentle like Harry. I mean, he's been quite helpful with Potions and not too terrible to be around when it is just the two of us, but whenever he's with his housemates or in public, he's absolutely the biggest arsehole. Everything is so hot and cold with him; one minute he's opening himself up and giving me flirtatious looks while the next minute he's fuming, bitter and calling me 'easy'.

My stomach sinks again at the thought. 

"Oh boy here we go again. I swear Cho gets every flipping boy in this school!" I hear Hannah spit out, her gaze is also set on the pair. Except her gaze is sharp whereas mine is simply wishful. "I swear if she goes near Neville—"

"Yeah?" We turn our heads towards Neville who's standing behind us. Hannah's eyes go wide before she lets out an awkward giggle.

"Neville...I—I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade together on Saturday?" Her recovery is quick, and I want to give her a round of applause for it.  I obviously don't, but it is tempting.

"Oh—er—yeah—yes I would. T-that would be great!" His cheeks are red as he stumbles over his words.

He's absolutely the cutest, especially whenever Hannah talks to him. It's a shame he's so oblivious to how much she fancies him.

Susie nudges me with my elbow, making me avert my gaze toward her. She points her head towards where Ginny is standing with a couple others. Her face is crestfallen as she's looking over towards Harry and Cho. My heart pangs for her—she's fancied Harry for years, and this is the first time he seems to be liking the attention from a girl.

"Let's go cheer her up. Gin needs some distraction," she suggests sweetly. I nod along with a soft smile before we walk over towards Ginny whose jaw is set tight, as if she's biting back the tears.

I've never been super close with Ginny as she's a year younger, but I always have enjoyed her outgoing personality. She's also the type of person who would do anything for anyone she cared about, which I admire greatly.

Once we approach her, her face is switched to a trying smile.

"Hey Susie, hey Libby!"

"Hi!" Susie says in her usual sweet voice.

I smile before saying, "hey! I've been meaning to congratulate you on your win against the Ravenclaws. That was a great game! You're so amazing to watch!"

At this, Ginny's face brightens, and she rubs her arm awkwardly at the compliments.

"Thank you...if it weren't for Harry finding the Golden Snitch so fast, we may have not won." Her eyes shift briefly over to Harry now laughing with Cho and Ron before she looks back at me.

"I'm not so sure about that. You guys were kicking arse out there! Don't discredit your abilities. Even as a Seeker, I think we're given way too much credit for the wins, when you guys are doing a majority of the work."

I see Susie nod along in my peripheral as Ginny smiles more. "You're too kind...thank you, Libby."

"Are you doing anything Saturday?" Susie asks. Ginny shakes her head 'no' in response, her face holding slight disappointment. "You should come with a group of us. So far it's Ernie, myself, Hannah and Neville."

"That sounds like fun, but I'd hate to ruin your double date being partnerless," she answers, her eyes darting around awkwardly. I don't blame her; it would be awkward to be the one without a 'date.'

I find myself looking around the room until my eyes land on Dean who keeps stealing glances at Ginny. I smirk to myself, a plan hatching in my head.

"What if you ask Dean to join along? He's super sweet and—" I lean closer to Ginny, whispering, "—he keeps looking over here at you."

Her eyes widen before she turns her head where Dean is standing. He flashes her a bright smile which causes her cheeks to inflame.

"Do you think he would go?"

Susie and I look at each other at her question before looking back at her, nodding our heads ferociously.

She smiles and straightens herself up a bit.

"Alright...I'll go ask him. It doesn't hurt to try...right?" She lets out a melodic laugh before saying, "Thank you both."

She then gives a quick wave before walking over towards Dean. We watch as they begin to eagerly talk to each other, noting how he nods along with a dazzling smile.

"That was a good idea mentioning Dean. I've forgotten that Hannah told me that Neville mentioned that he fancies Ginny," Susie whispers to me with a secretive smile.

I look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Really? I just noticed he was looking over at her a lot as we were talking." I look back over towards them with a smile. "Ginny is great...I really think her and Harry would be quite cute together."

Susie must agree with my statement as she hums along.

"Yeah...it's a shame he's hung up on Cho. Don't get me wrong, Cho is nice enough, but Ginny just would compliment Harry better."

I nod along, before remembering Cho and Cedric together at the Yule Ball.

They were a cute pair; both complimented each other well. Then, when Cedric passed, something inside her seemed to break—as it did for many of us who were friends with Cedric. It was quite sad to see her cry and sulk around the halls in the remaining weeks at school last year, so I guess I'm happy to see that she's moved on a bit.

"Things will work themselves out...maybe not how we may think they will..." A soft voice says behind us, making both Susie and I snap our heads to the source.

Luna stands there with her hands behind her back and eyes in her usual dream-like state. She smiles warmly as she brings her gaze to us.

"I apologize for eavesdropping. It was not my intention to do so," she says delicately.

I smile softly at her words.

"That's alright...you are right though—" I dart my eyes around the room, seeing Harry and Cho now talking, Ginny and Dean sharing a laugh, Neville blushing at something Hannah is telling him, Ron rolling his eyes at whatever Hermione is saying, and Ernie whose gaze is locked in on my best friend. "—things will work themselves out in some way. Whether we expect it or not."

...

Dear Nymphi,

I'm not sure where to start. Things with D.A. are going well! I'm excited to share more about it in person. Harry is amazing...he reminds me a bit of Remus when instructing. Before you ask again...Harry is only a friend. I know you desperately want there to be something more...but he's been getting closer to Cho. And if it wasn't Cho, I would hope it would be Ginny because she really fancies him.

Oh! I'll be heading to Hogsmeade with some friends from the Quidditch team this Saturday: Anthony, Herbert, and Heidi. Anthony asked me out—as friends of course! I'm quite excited! I'll be sending mum and dad a permission form for them to sign.

How are you? How is Remus? I miss you terribly! You have no idea how incredibly excited I am to see you both in a week! Christmastime with all of you is my favorite!

I love you, Nymphi! Please tell Remus I love him too as he is family in my eyes.

Love your sister,

Libby

I give the letter one final read through before rolling it up and placing a seal on it. I grab onto the permission slip form and short letter for my parents as well before heading out of my room.

As I make my way to the Owlery before curfew, I feel my heart pang with guilt. I never hold back information from Nymphi, and my letter feels slightly insincere. I clutch it to my side more with a saddened face.

Maybe when I see her in person, I'll be able to tell her about everything with Draco.

I glance out the large windows at the dimming sun; the sun mirroring the passionate, dim fire burning in my heart for the platinum-haired Prefect.

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**unedited**