"What the hell, Rory?!" Ron screamed at me. "You can't trust him! He hates us! He's just going to use and hurt you! I bet he just wants to screw around with you-"

"Shut up, shut up," Cole said sharply to Ron, standing in-between the two of us as I tried to fly at Ron, wanting to hit him.

"SHUT THE HELL UP RON, YOU DON'T KNOW HIM!" I screamed. "All you care about is eating and complaining and being a rude pig!"

"Rory, you can't blame him for having an opinion!" Hermione shouted at me.

"All I'm doing is finding a new friend?! And now I'm the bad guy in this!" I shrieked. "Gennie's the one turning me into the villain!"

"And you're turning into the victim!" Gennie screamed. Everybody else fell silent, the two of us facing off. "I've told you a lot of shit about my life Rory, but you can't tell me you made a new friend?"

"BECAUSE YOU ALL HATE HIM!" I burst out. "YOU'RE ALL SO JUDGEMENTAL YOU CAN'T SEE PAST WHAT YOUR PARENTS TOLD YOU ABOUT BEING IN SLYTHERIN!"

"HE'S A BAD PERSON, STOP ACTING LIKE YOU KNOW EVERYONE!" Gennie said, shoving me in the chest harshly. "His family... His family are bad people. They worked for Voldemort, who by the way, is the whole reason your family are dead!"

"AND HE'S NOT HIS FAMILY!" I shouted. "You of all people should know that!"

A deadly silence passed between us. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," I said hastily "I just-AGHGHHGH!"

Gennie had grabbed me by the hair and was trying to throw me to the ground, anger radiating in every inch of her body. Shrieking, I grabbed her hair and pulled hard, the two of us rolling around, swearing at each other and trying to hurt each other.

"STOP IT!" Cole screamed, and he pulled us apart, both of us panting.

"You bitch! I hate you!" Gennie said, rubbing at her scalp.

"Never ever speak to me again," I whispered, my voice sharp with pain.

Gennie shoved past me and ran up the stairs, sobbing. Moments later, we heard a door slam. Hermione gave me a look and hurried up the stairs after her.

Harry stared at me, speaking for the first time. "I thought you trusted me. But you didn't trust me with this."

And then he walked away.

********

As expected, our friendship group was in tatters. Ron and Harry weren't talking to the rest of us. Hermione was flitting between me and Gennie, finally seeing my point of view. Cole stayed glued to my side, which wasn't a bad thing.

Even though Hermione kept saying me and Gennie should try and work things out, I was still so angry at her. So what, I didn't tell her I was friends with Draco? It was my decision not to, because I knew she'd react like that.

But there was no excuse for her to over-react and act as if I had killed somebody, then telling everybody else and humiliating me.

It was a relief when school started back, and the tower became noisy and crowded instead of empty and awkward. Alia quickly found Cole and I in the common room, throwing herself onto me.

"Where is Genesis Lupin so I can slap her in her smug face?" was the first thing she said.

I gave Cole a look. "What? I had to tell her, she'd smell the awkward from a mile away."

"Can I?" Alia asked brightly.

"No!" I exclaimed. "I already pulled her hair... Just, try and talk some sense into her, but no fists or legs will be involved."

"Fine," she grumbled, and hurried off, looking disappointed.

Classes started again the next day. Class dragged on like a dead horse, divination almost putting me to sleep as Cole and I had to hold each other's hands to do palmistry.

But when I was kept behind after Defence; my day got a lot better. Remus told me that my first anti-dementor lesson would be on Thursday, which was a very good thing. Harry and I didn't look at each other when he explained, and as I exited the class, I was surprised to feel Harry's hand on my arm.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright?" Harry said, sounding troubled. "It's just... I thought you would have told me."

"So I can still hang out with him?" I said. I'd been worried about Harry telling me to stop being friends with him, which would have been awful.

Harry dramatically rolled his eyes. "I can't control who you're friends with, even if I don't like him."

We hugged, and I felt relieved we were talking again. Noticing Ron approaching, I dashed off, not wanting another argument. I found Hermione and Cole sat by a suit of armour, trying to repack Hermione's overstuffed back.

"Lupin is a werewolf, right?" Hermione said as I sat down, almost falling over at her words.

"Well, er you see...." I said, feeling flabbergasted at her blunt words.

"I already worked it out. Gennie being defensive over the werewolf work Snape gave us, the disappearing on the full moon... And well, what you blurted out with on Christmas."

"Ah," I said. "Well that, I do regret saying."

"We're not going to snitch or anything, I think werewolves are really awesome." Cole said who looked excited. "I mean, not the ones in my sister's book. They're shirtless and run after girls who don't want them and small children."

"You never said you have a sister." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Who is she?"

"Alia, Alia's my sister." Cole said in a normal, casual tone.

Hermione and I exchanged a look. "Well, I can see it, I suppose." I shrugged. "The hair colour and you're both as mad as each other-"

"I was joking!" Cole said loudly. "But seriously, I have a sister the same age as Alia, she's called Camille. Actually, they look a bit alike. And.... Well their birthday is on the same day, how weird is that?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, and even I could see what she was getting at, though Cole didn't understand what we seemed to be getting at.

* * *

At eight o'clock on Thursday evening, we left for our first dementor lesson. We sat on the tables for a few minutes, until Remus turned up with a large case.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Another boggart, we can't have a real dementor in here, obviously." Remus said, taking off his cloak.

"Good," I shuddered at the thought.

"So," Remus took out his wand. "Before we begin, remember that this is a very complex spell, so don't be disappointed if you don't do it straight away. It's called an patronus, and acts like a shield against a dementor."

"What does a Patronus look like?" I asked curiously.

"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."

"And how do you conjure it?"

"You have to think about a single, very happy memory. Rory, why don't you try first?"

Apprehensively I nodded, and leaped off the table, rolling up my sleeves for effect. Thinking back to my life, I thought about Kayley, who I wished I could see again.

I thought of when Laurence broke my heart and I couldn't stop crying. So Kayley came over to my house with a bunch of Disney films, ice-cream and a fireproof bin to throw all the stupid crap he'd bought me away.

And we'd thrown the cheesy little bear holding the heart, the keyring with his face on (yeah I wasn't sure why he bought me that either) and the awkward photos into the bin and Kayley set it on fire. And in the moment the stupid things went up, we both laughed and hugged, and I'd never felt so happy and grateful for Kayley.

"Right," I said, trying to recall Kayley's arm around my shoulder, the smell of the cookie-dough ice-cream and the heat of the fire and the slick of the smirk on her face.

"The incantation is this --" Lupin cleared his throat. "Expecto patronum!"

"Expecto patronum," I repeated under my breath, "expecto patronum."

"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"

"Oh -- yeah --" I told him, distracted for a moment, "Expecto patrono -- no, patronum -- sorry -- expecto patronum, expecto patronum"

Something whooshed suddenly out of the end of my wand; it looked like a wisp of silvery gas, and I shrieked, dropping my wand.

"Did you see that?" said Harry excitedly. "Something happened, Rory! Well done!!"

"Very good Rory," said Lupin, smiling. "Right, then -- ready to try it on a Dementor?"

"Yes," I said, gripping my wand very tightly, and moving into the middle of the deserted classroom.

I tried to tie my mind to me and Kayley in my darkened bedroom with the flowery wallpaper and her rough drumming fingers on my shoulder blades, the fire warming my soul. But wait, what if I heard my mum again...?

I concentrated my mind as well on my fear of the dementor... It was the only way it would come out of the case...

Remus pulled the lid off the box.

The dementor I'd created with my mind rose like a ghost, a scabbed hand glistening with slime reaching out towards me. The lights flickered, and as the rattling breath came from the cloak, I froze, transfixed with panic. Cold came over me and the dementor was dissolving....

I was falling though mist, and I could hear my mother's voice echoing in my head-"No, not my children!"

"Stand aside -- stand aside, girl --"

"Aurora!"

I jerked back to life, gasping like a fish out of water. I was flat on the classroom floor, the lamps flickering back to life. I didn't have to ask what had just happened.

"Oh," I said quetly, feeling my forehead damp with sweat.

"You okay?" Harry asked sympathetically, holding out his hand for me to grab. I took it, shakily getting to my feet, swaying slightly.

"Here --" Remus handed me a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."

"It's getting worse," I muttered, biting off the Frog's head. "I could hear her louder that time -- and him -- Voldemort --"

Remus looked pale. "Aurora, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand --"

"I do! I do!" I exclaimed, swallowing the rest of the chocolate in one gulp. "I have to be able to defend myself!"

Nodding, I drew myself back into my memories, thinking of romance instead of friendship. I thought of dancing with Liam at that party a year ago, spinning around in my ruffled red dress, the two of us so happy and connected in that moment....

"Ready?" said Lupin, gripping the box lid.

"Ready," I said firmly; trying hard to fill my head with Logan-no, Liam's hands in mine, his gelled spiky hair bouncing as we spun, my dress fanning out around me-

"Go!" Remus pulled off the lid, and the room was cold and dark again. The dementor glided forward, hands snatching forward for me.

"Expecto patronum!" I yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto Pat --"

Blurred shapes moved around me, fog burying me inside my own mind. A man, a man's voice was in my head, he was panicking--

"Lily, take Harry and Rory, Go! Run! I'll hold him off --"

The sounds of someone stumbling from a room -- a door bursting open -- a cackle of high- pitched laughter --

"Rory! Rory...Aurora! Wake up..."

Harry was slapping my face lightly. This time it was a minute before I fully understood why I was lying on a dusty classroom floor.

"I heard Dad," I mumbled. "That's the first time I've ever heard him -- he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give Mum time to run for it with us..."

Rubbing at my face, I saw there were tear among all of the sweat. Rubbing my jumper sleeve on my eyes, I purposely un-did my shoelace so Harry and Remus couldn't see my tears.

Glancing at Harry, he looked shattered at this revelation.

"You heard James?" said Remus in a strange voice.

"Yeah..."

Harry looked up. "Why -- you didn't know my dad, did you?"

"We were friends." Remus told him. "Rory, perhaps we shall leave it for tonight. I'll only have one go with Harry...."

"No!" I exclaimed. I got up again, trying not to sway. "I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough a thing, that's the problem!"

Racking my brains, I thought of the moment I saw Harry. If that wasn't a happy memory, what on Earth was? Deep inside I thought of the joy, the excitement, my lips dry and shaky hands as I clasped eyes on him.

"Ready?" said Remus, who looked as if he wanted to stop. "Concentrating hard? All right -- go!"

He pulled off the lid of the case for the third time, and the Dementor rose out of it; the room fell cold and dark --

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" I bellowed desperately. "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The screaming started again, but instead, it was far-away, like if I was at one end of a tunnel.... I could see the dementor, but it stopped, and something-something burst from my wand, hovering between the dementor. My legs felt like water, but I was standing-I was doing it.

"Riddikulus!" roared Lupin, springing forward.

There was a crack and I lowered my wand, the patronus and dementor vanishing. Sinking on the floor, I felt my limbs shake, like I'd just ran around the world.

"Well done, sis." Harry said, slinging an arm around my shoulder. "You did awesome."

"Thanks," I said, exhausted.

"Excellent!" Lupin said, striding over to where I sat and Harry hovered. "Excellent, Rory! That was definitely a start!"

"Can I have my go?" Harry asked.

"Not now," Remus said. "That's enough for one night. I'll focus on you next week. Here, for a conciliation and award for you, Rory-"

He held out two large bars of Honeyduke's best chocolate.

"Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"

"Okay," said Harry.

We went to leave, when Remus called my name. Spinning around he said, "Have you and Gennie fallen out?"

Hesitating, I nodded. He nodded, as if confirming something. "She did say what happened. I'm not taking sides, but I will tell you this, Aurora-my daughter has her reasons for what she did."

I nodded, and Remus gave me a long, searching look. Dropping the gaze, I grabbed Harry's arm, and the two of us escaped the classroom.

********

Slytherin won their match against Ravenclaw, which was apparently very good for us. So he increased practice for five times a week.

They were awkward, especially considering how close I had to work with Gennie. But we kept the talk to Quidditch, and our tones were clipped and closed off. I wasn't apologising for being rude about her father and fighting her until she apologised for exposing me, and being a right bitch.

Hermione's work-load was finally getting to her. She barely spoke in the evenings, her hair messier than usual and close to angry tears if anybody interrupted her train of thought.

Cole and I usually kept out of her way when she was like this, because she'd just shout at us to go away in any case.

"How does she even do it?" Cole said, tossing the quaffle ball to me on the sofa, our long legs stretched out on each other as we tossed the ball. "I'm barely on top of the subjects I'm taking, let alone like five extra ones."

"I've joked conspiracy theories with her all year, but she just shouts at me." I paused. "I might be mad at Gennie, but boy am I glad she talked me out of taking more subjects."

"Speaking of Gennie, she's looking weirdly at you." Cole said out of the corner of his mouth.

Looking over at where she was sitting with Seamus, she was staring right at me, ignoring her boyfriend. Her lip kept twitching as if she wanted to say something. I kept staring right back at her, until she dropped her gaze.

She threw Seamus' arm off her, and he gave her an odd look. "Where are you going?" he called loudly after her.

"Like you care!" she called back, her voice breaking, before she stormed out of the common room.

"You should go after her," Cole said nervously, as if he wanted to speak to her.

"I'll be nice to her once she apologises." I snapped.

He was right as well. She was looking as if she wanted to say something, as her lip kept twitching. But her eyes still looked icy. As I stared back, she picked up her bag, and left the common room.

"Well I don't care really." I told Cole with a sigh. "I'll care when she apologises."

******

As January faded into February there was no change in the bitter weather, or my relationship with Gennie. The match was fast approaching and Harry's firebolt still hadn't been returned.

And worse, Harry's lessons weren't going very well. He did get a silvery shadow on his second try, but he hadn't progressed since then.

Mine was getting better, but not much. All it did was hover like a cloud in a sunny day, draining me of all energy. I kept beating myself up about it, especially with the desire to hear my parents' voices again.

"You're expecting too much of yourself," said Professor Remus sternly in the fourth week of practice. "For a thirteen-year-old wizard and witch, even an indistinct Patronus is a huge achievement. You aren't passing out anymore, are you?"

"I thought a Patronus would -- charge the Dementors down or something," said Harry, disappointed. "Make them disappear --"

"The true Patronus does do that," said Lupin. "But you've achieved a great deal in a very short space of time."

"You said it's harder if there are loads of them," I said.

"I have complete confidence in both of you," said Remus smiling. "Here -- you've both earned a drink. You won't have tried it before --"

He pulled three bottles out of his briefcase.

"Butterbeer!" said Harry, without thinking. I shot him a glare. "Yeah, I like that stuff!"

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Oh -- Ron and Hermione brought me some back from Hogsmeade," Harry lied quickly.

"I see," said Remus though he still looked slightly suspicious. "Well -- let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw! Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher..." he added hastily.

We drank the butterbeer in silence, until I voiced something I'd been wondering for a while. "What's under a Dementor's hood?"

"Hmmm ... well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us. You see, the Dementor lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon." Remus said thoughtfully.

"What's that?"

"They call it the Dementor's Kiss," said Lupin, with a slightly twisted smile. "It's what Dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and -- and suck out his soul."

I accidentally spat out a bit of butterbeer onto Harry's jeans. He sighed, and attempted to scrub it off.

"What -- they kill --?"

"Oh no," said Lupin. "You'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no...anything. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever...lost."

Remus drank a little more butterbeer, then said, "It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the Dementors permission to perform it if they find him."

"He deserves it," Harry said suddenly.

"You think so?" said Remus lightly. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?"

"Yes," said Harry defiantly. "For...for some things..."

Knowing we couldn't tell Remus what we knew without saying we'd snuck to Hogsmeade with Cole, we kept quiet. So we both finished his butterbeer, thanked Remus, and left the History of Magic classroom.

I half wished that I hadn't asked what was under a Dementor's hood, I still felt sick. I was so out of it, I ended up walking into McGonagall.

"Miss Oswin, do watch where you're going!" McGonagall exclaimed.

"Sorry Professor," I said sheepishly.

"I've been looking for you." McGonagall said to Harry, and I noticed she was carrying a package. "We've done everything we could think of, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all -- you've got a very good friend somewhere, Potter..."

. She was holding out his Firebolt, and it looked as magnificent as ever.

"I can have it back?" Harry said weakly. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," said Professor McGonagall, and she was actually smiling. "I daresay you'll need to get the feel of it before Saturday's match, won't you? And Potter -- do try and win, won't you?"

Speechless, I helped a stunned Harry carry his firebolt to the tower (hey, I wanted to touch the thing as well) and we ran into Ron, who saw the broom and grinned.

"She gave it to you? Excellent! Listen, can I still have a go on it? Tomorrow?"

I noted he was ignoring me. I guess he was still a bit sore about me screaming at him and almost hitting him.

"Yeah...anything..." said Harry. "You know what -- we should make up with Hermione...She was only trying to help... Cole and Gennie too...."

"Yeah, all right," said Ron. "She's in the common room now working -- for a change."

Harry looked at us. "You know what's stupid?" Harry asked.

"What?" Ron and I both asked.

"You two are ignoring each other." Harry said coldly. "At the end of the day, Ron, you shouldn't have said that to Rory. And Rory, you shouldn't have tried to hit him.

Ron and I looked at each other awkwardly. "Sorry for trying to hit you," I said in a small voice.

"Sorry I said Malfoy wanted to screw you over," Ron said in a tiny voice.

"Forgiven?" I asked Ron, rolling my eyes.

Seeing my ease, Ron nodded eagerly. "Forgiven."

Laughing as things turned back to normal, we found Neville in front of the tower, who was refusing him entrance.

"I wrote them down!" Neville was saying tearfully. "But I must've dropped them somewhere!"

"A likely tale!" roared Sir Cadogan. Then, spotting the three of us: "Good even, my fine young yeomen! Come clap this loon in irons. He is trying to force entry to the chambers within!"

"Oh, shut up," I told him as we drew level with Neville.

"I've lost the passwords!" Neville told me miserably. "I made him tell me what passwords he was going to use this week, because he keeps changing them, and now I don't know what I've done with them!"

"Oddsbodkins," said Harry to Sir Cadogan, who looked extremely disappointed

There was a sudden, excited murmur in the common room as every head turned and the next moment, Harry was surrounded by people exclaiming over his Firebolt.

"Where'd you get it, Harry?"

"Will you let me have a go?"

"Have you ridden it yet, Harry?"

"Ravenclaw'll have no chance, they're all on Cleansweep Sevens!"

"Can I just hold it, Harry?"

After ten minutes or so, during which the Firebolt was Passed around and admired from every angle, the crowd dispersed and we had a clear view of Hermione, the only person who hadn't rushed over.

"I got it back," said Harry, grinning at her and holding up the Firebolt.

"See, Hermione? There wasn't anything wrong with it!" said Ron.

"Well -- there might have been!" I huffed. "I mean, at least you know now that it's safe!"

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Harry. "I'd better put it upstairs."

"I'll take it!" said Ron eagerly. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic."

He took the Firebolt and, holding it as if it were made of glass, carried it away up the boys' staircase.

"Can I sit down, then?" Harry asked Hermione.

"I suppose so," said Hermione, moving a great stack of parchment off a chair. She removed a second stack to I could sit.

I looked around at the cluttered table, at the long Arithmancy essay on which the ink was still glistening, at the even longer Muggle Studies essay ('Explain Why Muggles Need Electricity') and at the rune translation Hermione was now poring over.

"How are you getting through all this stuff?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, well -- you know -- working hard," said Hermione. Close-up, I saw that she looked almost as tired as Remus.

"Why don't you just drop a couple of subjects?" I asked, watching her lifting books as she searched for her rune dictionary.

"I couldn't do that!" said Hermione, looking scandalized.

"Arithmancy looks terrible, just like maths." I shuddered at the memory of equations.

"Oh no, it's wonderful!" said Hermione earnestly. "It's my favourite subject! It's --"

But exactly what was wonderful about Arithmancy, I never found out. At that precise moment, a strangled yell echoed down the boys' staircase. Then footsteps came thundering, and Ron came into view, dragging a bedsheet with him.

"LOOK!" he bellowed, striding over to Hermione's table. "LOOK!" he yelled, shaking the sheets in her face.

"Ron, what --?"

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"

Hermione was leaning away from Ron, looking utterly bewildered. We looked down at the sheet Ron was holding. There was something red on it. Something that looked horribly like --

"BLOOD!" Ron yelled into the stunned silence. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N -- no," said Hermione in a trembling voice.

Ron threw something down onto Hermione's rune translation. I leaned forward. Lying on top of the weird, spiky shapes were several long, ginger cat hairs.

That could have only come from Crookshanks.

ot|