A/N Important author's note at the end of chapter

Sam followed me inside with a smirk and a nudge, kicking the door behind her. "Don't do that, I only painted it in the summer." Arthur whined.

"Bloody hell, what happened to you?" Sam said loudly, and I looked up from my feet. In the brighter light of his hallway, it was clear that Arthur had a large purple bruise under his eye--and I swore some of his hair was missing from his fringe.

"Nothing." Arthur waved off. "I'm fine."

"You're a crap liar." I said, all thoughts of confessing feelings vanished. I reached up and held Arthur's face in my hand, examining the bruise. It was nastier up close, reaching from under his eyelid to his cheekbone. 

"It's fine," Arthur snapped, but as I rubbed my finger over the bruise he visibly winced.

"Clearly not," I said, removing my hand from his face. "Who did this to you?"

"It's no big deal, please, just drop it." Arthur begged, and he looked nervous as he pushed his glasses up his face.

"Right then, I'm going to get truth telling serum then, you stubborn bastard." Sam said. "I want to know who I'm out to kill."

"Same here," I added, feeling angry. "I won't hesitate to give them a matching bruise, see how they like it."

"Well considering your luck with potions recently, I'd say no to that." Arthur said dryly to Sam. "I''ll tell you both, okay? Just don't freak out."

"I'm getting an icepack." I declared, and while Arthur whined I ended up in his freezer to find a squidgy ice pack behind a large pack of frozen waffles.

When I got into the living room, Sam was sprawled across an armchair with a paper party hat on her head, though with a steel like expression. Arthur was curled up on one side of his sofa, and I noticed he winced as he folded his legs under him.

"Got it," I said, sitting next to him, and pressing the ice against his face. He gave a little smile, reaching out his hand for mine, but thought better of it, putting it on his lap.

"Thanks." Arthur said. "Right, so I was over Aunt Elena's and I couldn't sleep last night, and um I heard Cole trying to sneak out of the house. He, he was heading out to find Cameron."

"WHAT?" Sam and I excaimed together.

I was honestly taken back. Cole, going voluntarily after his abuser of so many years? What was he thinking?

"Well, you both know about those kids Cameron killed?" Arthur said timidly, and Sam and I both nodded. "Cole thought it would be wiser to hand himself over to Cameron so he wouldn't kill anyone else--and obviously I didn't like that."

"What happened next?" I asked. "Did you follow him?"

"He didn't make it out of the door, I tackled him." Arthur snorted. "And he got pissed off, and started hitting me. He only stopped when I hit him over the head with a lamp, he realised what he was doing. Then he cried, I cried and Camille almost hit us with a baseball bat thinking someone was trying to break in."

"That still doesn't explain why you're here alone on Christmas day." Sam pointed out.

"You knew I was here though?" Arthur said, and Sam shook her head. "How were you expecting to get in then?"

"Break-in, eat all your mum's Christmas cake." Sam said with a smirk. 

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Well I thought it might not make Cole's Christmas day any better if I was over his house--especially since I told his mum what he was planning on doing. So I've been hiding out here eating and watching Nightmare before Christmas."

"Well, that's all very interesting Arthur, but I'm off to try and talk some sense into that cousin of yours. Both of them." she huffed with purpose. "Later nerds, enjoy your mingling."

Sam darted out of the living room, leaving Arthur and I alone, faint Christmas music coming from the radio on top of the tv. He took off the ice pack, blinking a few times. "That was so cold, I feel as if my other eye is going to fall out."

"Well technically your other eye didn't fall out." I said awkwardly, and he chuckled. Then I couldn't help saying, "You're stupidly brave, Arthur Wilde."

"Yeah, well I couldn't let my cousin walk into a death trap." Arthur shrugged. "I've heard so much about fights, but it wasn't like I thought it was. It hurt more hitting Cole with a lamp."

I gave him a small smile, shifting closer to him. "My first fight was with Lacey, when I was seven and she was nine. She accused me of stealing her barbie doll and I called her a skank so she hit my head against the wall. Ironically, it was little baby Hollie who'd taken it."

"Who taught you the word skank?" Arthur chuckled.

"Kayley of course, her parents and brother were awful for swearing." I said wistfully. "She taught me a lot of things."

Subconciously snuggling into Arthur's side, watching his one remaining grey eye looking at me so fondly, I couldn't help ask, "You're okay, right?"

"If you mean in the scary dying way, then no, I'm fine." Arthur said, finally taking my hand and squeezing it. "If I'm lucky, I hope to never set foot inside another radiology office for the rest of my life."

"That's good, that's really good. Because I really don't want to lose you, Arthur." I said, voice strained. "It'd hurt me."

His spare hand clumsily found my face, gently running his fingers down my cheekbone. "Hey now, I'm here, and not going anywhere."

Feeling a shot of bravery from being so physcially close to Arthur, I whispered, "About what you said to me at the party..."

"Yeah," Arthur said sheepisly. "I shouldn't have said that. I was caught in the moment of the night... I just wanted you to hear it."

"Arthur--"

"I know, I know you don't see me that way." Arthur said with a lopsided grin. "But I'm okay. I'm not that arsehole who whines about a girl not feeling the same way. I just... I don't want to have any regrets, any secrets in my life. And I really wanted you to see how I see you--well half see you."

"Arthur," I said quietly. "I thought it was pretty obvious by now... I feel more for you than just friends."

"Oh."

And then before I could chicken out or make a lame joke, I carried on: "I can't explain it to you in so many words, but it's like you're the sun and I'm the moon. You're pulling me home, back to who I really am with a smile on your face, letting me see the light. You make me Aurora Oswin, the girl who's life is drawing and pokemon cards who never stops laughing or smiling. I thought that girl was lost when Kayley died, but you bring her back to life with every smile, every stupid reference you make. And Arthur, you make me damn happy. You make me want to listen to cringey love songs and make up a thousand metaphors about your damn smile... And these feelings are damn terrifying, but, I--"

Instead of the world imploding like I'd imagined once my jumbled thoughts had tumbled out, it was instead Arthur's lips against mine that silenced my ramblings. For a moment, I was frozen, wondering if this was just an illusion, that I was going to wake up to darkness and that gnawing sadness.

But then I could feel his noodle-like arms pulling me to him and my hands brushing against his stupid jumper I knew this wasn't a magic trick. So I responded, deepening the kiss and almost climbing onto his lap in an attempt to be as close to him as physcially possible. His hands were on my sides, gentle and brushing against my ribs and spine.

And my hands were on his chest, breathlessly kissing him, until--"RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER!--" We jumped apart, giggling when we realised it was his stupid jumper singing with it's light up nose going wild. 

"Nerd," I said breathlessly, feeling not entirely on the planet. "But I still like-like you anyway."

"Like-Like?" Arthur giggled. "Are you twelve?"

"If twelve year olds kissed like we did, then I'd be worried." I said, still smiling, taking in Arthur with his tousled hair, lopsided glasses and pinkened lips. "But I know I'm not ready for big words yet, it's just--"

"Like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Arthur interupted, and I hit his arm playfully. "No, sorry, I know what you mean."

I climbed off Arthur and instead settled for snuggling against him, his arm wrapped around me. "Like a part of me is still with Malfoy, but enough of me is with you to try and make sure I can say those words to you one day."

Arthur just smiled, and kissed me again. It ended up just being a quick one, considering Sam re-appeared moments later. "Look at you two, disgustingly cute. I love it." Sam smirked. "So my dear friends, are you together?"

I looked at Arthur and with smiles and a nod, we said at the same time, "Yeah."

"I swear to God you guys have been unofficialy together since like, October." Sam rolled her eyes. "Now, I don't know about you two, but I want to see what the big deal about the Queen's speech is."

She turned the television on, and soon Sam was entranced by the Queen and Buckingham palace, acting like it was the most amazing thing she'd ever watched. 

"Can, I um ask you something?" I asked Arthur quietly, and he nodded with a smile. "Why did you run off after we kissed?"

"You'll think it's really stupid, but I was nervous." Arthur said sheepishly. "Like so nervous I'd told the girl I'd had a crush on for over two years how I'd felt, and that she probably didn't feel the same way. So I ran out, and ended up throwing up and embarssed so I went straight home the next morning."

"Oh. I thought you thought I used you to get back at Malfoy."

"As if," Arthur scoffed. "I've been used by enough people to know when somebody is. And you certainly aren't one of them, girlfriend."

I kissed his cheek, relieved that he didn't think badly of me. "Nice to hear, boyfriend."

"Please, you two are giving me a headache." Sam scoffed, but she had a small smile on her face.

Arrthur and I ended up cuddled together for the next few hours, watching over-played Christmas movies while Sam slept on the chair, umoving. It gave me an uneasy feeling, knowing one day she would never wake up from a sleep.

"She's dying, isn't she?" Arthur said softly, noticing my gaze.

"How did you know?" I murmered, unable to keep my eyes off my friend.

"During those lovely pre-remission days she used to give me her potion books to read, and I could pretend there was a cure inside the pages. I read them enough to know the effects, I just hoped it wasn't true."

"I'm going to miss her so much." I mumbled, vision going blurry.

I felt Arthur kiss me on the cheek, pulling me into a tighter hug. "Me too. I've known her since we were kids.."

A dark feeling of fear of dread, I couldn't help say, "Please try to stay."

"I'll try, so long as you will." Arthur said, and I realised that Arthur worried about me just as much as I worried about him.

"Suppose we'll both have to, for Sam's sake."

* * * * 

A few days after New Year, I lined up with the others in the Burrow kitchen to go through the floo network back to school. Only Mrs Weasley could say goodbye to us--everybody else had gone to work, and Hollie was at school (though she'd tried to climb into my trunk to come with us).

Mrs. Weasley dissolved into tears at the moment of parting. She had been crying on and off ever since Percy had stormed from the house on Christmas Day with his glasses splattered with mashed parsnip (for which Fred, George, and Ginny all claimed credit).

The minister had sent aurors out to find Sam after Christmas Day, but it turned out to be just Kingsley and Tonks, who both knew Sam and therefore claimed to not know where she was which helped.

"Don't cry, Mum," said Ginny, patting her on the back as Mrs. Weasley sobbed into her shoulder. "It's okay..."

"Yeah, don't worry about us," said Ron, "or about Percy. He's such a prat, it's not really a loss, is it?"

Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever as she enfolded Harry in her arms.
"Promise me you'll look after yourself... stay out of trouble..."

"I always do, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. "I like a quiet life, you know me."

She pulled me into a big hug and whispered in my ear, "Look after yourself, and that brother of yours, okay?"

"Of course," I smiled. "See you soon, Mrs Weasley."

"Be good, then, all of you..."

Once Harry disapeared I stood into the fire and shouted 'Hogwarts.' I barely had a glimpse of Mrs Weasley's worried face before the flames covered me and I was spinning out of control, passing many other living rooms. Then with a feeling like being squeezed through a hoover, I popped out in McGonagall's office.

"Evening, Miss Potter. Try not to get dust on the carpet." she said as greeting, not looking up from her work.

"Of course not, Professor." I smiled, joining Harry, who was awkwardly standing a few feets away. We waited until Ron, Ginny and Gennie appeared before we left for Gryffindor tower.

"Where's Cole to?" I asked Gennie as we trailed after the boys to the tower.

"He's trying to apologise to Arthur, he feels awful about what happened." Gennie sighed. "But Cole's going back onto his medication so hopefully he won't try to go after Cameron again."

"That's good." I said with a smile. "But Arthur will sort it out, he's good at that." 

"Ugh please don't go on about your boyfriend, I might throw up." Harry shuddered.

"Just because you're not going out with--" I scoffed until Harry shot me a look to shut me up, considering Ginny was still with us.

We finally reached the tower, and Ron said the password. "No," the fat lady responded.

"What d'you mean, 'no' ?" Ron scoffed.

"It's the opposite of yes, Won-Won." I said slowly and Ron glared at me.

"There is a new password," the fat lady said to Ron. "And please don't shout."

"But we've been away, how're we supposed to--?"

"Harry! Ginny! Rory! Gennie!" Hermione was hurrying towards us, very pink-faced and wearing a cloak, hat, and gloves.

"I got back a couple of hours ago, I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck--I mean Witherwings," she said breathlessly. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

"Yeah," said Ron at once, "pretty eventful, Rufus Scrim --"

"I've got something for you, Harry," said Hermione, neither looking at Ron nor giving any sign that she had heard him. "Oh, hang on--password. Abstinence."

"Precisely," said the Fat Lady in a feeble voice, and swung forward to reveal the portrait hole.

"What's up with her?" asked Gennie.

"Overindulged over Christmas, apparently," said Hermione, rolling her eyes as she led the way into the packed common room. "She and her friend Violet drank their way through all the wine in that picture of drunk monks down by the Charms corridor. Anyway..."

She rummaged in her pocket for a moment, then pulled out a scroll of parchment with Dumbledore's writing on it. "Great," said Harry, unrolling it at once to discover that his next lesson with Dumbledore was scheduled for the following night. "I've got loads to tell him--and you. Let's sit down --"

But at that moment there was a loud squeal of "Won-Won!" and Lavender Brown came hurtling out of nowhere and flung herself into Ron's arms. Several onlookers sniggered; Hermione gave a tinkling laugh and said, "There's a table over here... coming. Ginny?"

"No, thanks, I said I'd meet Dean," said Ginny, though she didn't ound very enthusiastic. Leaving Ron and Lavender locked in a kind of vertical wrestling, match, Harry led us to a table.

"So how was your Christmas?" Gennie asked.

"Oh, fine," she shrugged. "Nothing special. How was it at Won-Won's?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," said Harry. "Look, Hermione, can't you --"

"You know nothing, Harry." I rolled my eyes. "What did you expect Hermione to do over the holidays?"

"I thought maybe, you know, over Christmas --"

"It was the Fat Lady who drank a vat of five-hundred-year-old wine, Harry, not me. So what was this important news you wanted to tell me?" Hermione said sharply. 

Harry ended up saying he'd overheard Snape and Malfoy talking the same time I did--though he didn't hear anything about Sam, which hurt as Arthur and I were still the only ones to know about it.

When he had finished, Hermione sat in thought for a moment and then said, "Don't you think--?"

"-- he was pretending to offer help so that he could trick Malfoy into telling him what he's doing?"

"Well, yes," said Hermione.

"Ron's dad and Lupin think so," Harry said grudgingly. "But this definitely proves Malfoy's planning something, you can't deny that."

"Well Sam would tell us if he was, you know how pally she is with him now." Gennie said with a shrug, not really paying attention. She was looking out for Cole's return to the common room and clearly quite anxious.

"No, I can't," she answered slowly.

"And he's acting on Voldemort's orders, just like I said!"

I felt an awkward twist in my stomach, remembering that Malfoy was a death eater. There was a part of me that wanted to tell my brother he was right, but I stopped myself. If Sam was right, that he was being forced into this.... It would ruin any chance of him getting away. Even if he did hurt me so much, I did care if he was subjected to being trapped as a death eater.

"Well maybe you've got it wrong." I said. "Maybe you don't know what's going on at all."

Everybody gave me a weird look, but I couldn't help still wonder why Malfoy was being forced to be a death eater.

* * *

The new term started next morning with a pleasant surprise for the sixth-years: a large sign had been pinned to the common room notice boards overnight.

APPARITION LESSONS

If you are seventeen years of age, or will turn seventeen on or before the 31st August next, you are eligible for a twelve-week course of Apparition Lessons from a Ministry of Magic Apparition instructor.

Please sign below if you would like to participate.

Cost: 12 Galleons.

"Briliant." Cole said when he saw the board. "I can go to Disneyland whenever I want now."

Cole was back on medication, but it was clear the holidays had a bad effect on him. He was thinner, his piercing puffed up from all the times he'd tugged at it. A small scar was on the side of his head from where Arthur hit him with the lamp, which he seemed embarassed about.

"Yeah, but you'd still need to pay." I pointed out.

"I'd climb into a mickey mouse costume, it'd all be good," Cole said with a smile, signing up for the classes before passsing me the quill. "Then I could live in a castle and go on Space Mountain whenever I wanted... That's it, screw working for Gringott's, I'm going to Disney."

"I can live out my dream of being Cinderella then," Gennie sighed dreamily. "Yes, that's decided. We're living in Paris in the Disney castle."

"And you say Arthur and me are nerds." I rolled my eyes as we left the common room. "But apparating will be so cool, even if I don't like it much."

"I really want to pass the test first time, everybody in my family did." Cole said thoughtfully. "Apart from Arthur, he lost half his fringe in his first test."

"When can we take the actual test?" Gennie asked

"Soon as we're seventeen, so I could take it next month if I wanted to." Cole grinned. "Ha! You two would have to wait until May and July!

"But you couldn't apparate anywhere." I pointed out.

"Not the point, is it? Everyone would know I could Apparate if I wanted."

We'd barely left charms at breaktime when Harry practically dragged me away from kissing Arthur to discuss what Dumbledore had told him at his last meeting. Apparently Voldemort had asked Slughorn about something called a horcrux but Slughorn had altered his memory.

"Well I've never heard of one, have you 'Mione?" I asked Hermione, who shook her head.

"They must be really advanced Dark magic, or why would Voldemort have wanted to know about them?"

"So you want me to help you get the memory out of Slughorn? Why?" I wondered.

"He liked mum, and you look a lot like her, so it might help." Harry shrugged. "Even Dumbledore said it was a good idea."

"Fair enough." I shrugged.

"I think it's going to be difficult to get the information, Harry, you'll have to be very careful about how you approach Slughorn, think out a strategy ..." Hermione said.

"Ron reckons I should just hang back after Potions this afternoon ..."

"Oh, well, if Won-Won thinks that, you'd better do it," she said, flaring up at once. "After all, when has Won-Won's judgement ever been faulty?"

"Hermione, can't you --"

"No!" she said angrily, and stormed away, leaving us alone in ankle-deep in snow.

Potions always looked awkward for Harry as he, Ron and Hermione had to share a desk. But I didn't mind potions since the teacher didn't help me and I got to spend time with Arthur.

"... and so," finished Slughorn, "I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!"

"This is it, I'm finally going to kill somebody with a potion." Arthur groaned. "Remember me when I have to go on the run from the law."

"Don't overreact, I'll hide you under my bed." I laughed. "Unless they give me Green day's new album, then I'd give you up."

"You'd give me up for an unreleased CD?" Arthur shook his head, but was grinning. "I'd do the same."

"Nice to see you care," I fake-huffed, but gave him a quick kiss anyway. I noticed Malfoy was staring at us with an unreadable expression and feeling uncomfortable, went back to working on an antidote.

I went through the antidote process not having a single clue of what to do, but I tried my best. It helped that I pretended I was making an antidote for Sam, that I would be able to cure her somehow. It seemed she was thinking along she same lines, she was red in the face and hair sticking up everywhere as she threw most of Slughorn's stock into her cauldron


"Time's ... UP!" called Slughorn genially. "Well, let's see how you've done! Blaise ... what have you got for me?"

Slughorn examined everybody's potions, and turned out that mine would actually kill somebody instead of save them. The only upside was that Arthur's potion could save somebody from a cold, which was a start.

Slughorn reached Harry and was very silent for a few minutes.

"You've got a nerve, boy!" he boomed, taking the bezoar and holding it up so that the class could see it. "Oh, you're like your mother ... well, I can't fault you ... a bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these potions!"

Hermione, who was sweaty-faced and had soot on her nose, looked livid. "And you thought of a bezoar all by yourself, did you, Harry?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"That's the individual spirit a real potion-maker needs!" said Slughorn happily, before Harry could reply. "Just like his mother, she had the same intuitive grasp of potion-making, it's undoubtedly from Lily he gets it ... yes, Harry, yes, if you've got a bezoar to hand, of course that would do the trick ... although as they don't work on everything, and are pretty rare, it's still worth knowing how to mix antidotes ..."

The only person in the room looking angrier than Hermione was Malfoy, who looked like he'd spilt cat sick over himself. I couldn't help twitch my lips into a smile at that, thinking about a cat throwing up on him.

"Time to pack up!" said Slughorn. "And an extra ten points to Gryffindor for sheer cheek!" Still chuckling, he waddled back to his desk at the front of the dungeon.

"I'll catch up with you later," I told Arthur, kissing him on the cheek.

"M'kay, see ya." he smiled widely, following Cole out of the class. I did notice that Malfoy shoved Arthur out of the way, which I thought was childish considering Malfoy didn't even have any proper feelings for me.

I dawdled with Harry, re-lacing my shoe several times until we were the only three left in the room.

"Come on, now, Harry and Aurora, you'll be late for your next lesson," said Slughorn affably, snapping the gold clasps shut on his dragonskin briefcase.

"Sir, we wanted to ask you something." Harry said.

"Ask away, then, my dear boy, ask away ..."

Harry gave me a look, so I siad, "Sir, I wondered what you know about... about Horcruxes?"

Slughorn froze. His round face seemed to sink in upon itself. He licked his lips and said hoarsely, "What did you say?"

"She asked whether you know anything about Horcruxes, sir. You see--" Harry began.

"Dumbledore put you up to this," whispered Slughorn. He looked terrified and nervous all at once. "Dumbledore's shown you that--that memory," said Slughorn. "Well? Hasn't he?"

"Yes," said Harry, deciding on the spot that it was best not to lie.

"Yes, of course," said Slughorn quietly, still dabbing at his white face. "Of course ... well, if you've seen that memory, Harry, you'll know that I don't know anything--anything--" he repeated the word forcefully "--about Horcruxes."

He seized his dragonskin briefcase, stuffed his handkerchief back into his pocket and marched to the dungeon door. "Sir," I said for a last attempt. "My brother thought there might be something more to it--"

"Did you?" said Slughorn. "Then you were wrong, weren't you? WRONG!"

He bellowed the last word and, before Harry could say another word, slammed the dungeon door behind him.

"Well that went just peachy, don't you think?" I said sarcastically.

As time went on, Harry and I decided to let Slughorn get comfortable and in a false sense of security before we asked him again. I even asked Arthur if he knew what Horcruxes could do, considering his power as head boy allowed him into the restricted section

"There's not one single explanation!" He huffed one day when we were sprawled across a sofa in the Hufflepuff common room. "I even looked in the disgusting books with skin for covers, and they said they wouldn't give direction or speak about it! Like why even mention it?!"

"Well there's something fishy about those horcruxes all right, if Slughorn just told us..."

The snow soon melted and it was February, cold rain making everywhere muddy and slippery. But the upside was that on the first weekend, apparation lessons were scheduled to take place.

"You'll love it," Arthur told me the Friday before. "It's almost as amazing as the pokemon movies! Apart from when your body parts go missing, this one boy in Slytherin lost half his p--"

"Yeah, I don't want to know." I laughed, but I couldn't help wonder if that would happen to anybody in my year.

On Saturday I followed Sam (who despite all the magic she could do, couldn't apparate) Gennie and Cole into the hall, to see all the tables had vanished.

"Good morning," said the Ministry wizard, when all the students had arrived. "My name is Wilkie Twycross and I shall be your Ministry-Apparition Instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition test in this time--"

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" barked Professor McGonagall.

I looked around to see Malfoy was bright pink, he'd been talking to Crabbe in a whispered argument. I wondered what it was about; Malfoy always said he got on well with Crabbe and Goyle.

"--by which time, many of you may be ready to take your test," Twycross continued, as though there had been no interruption.

"As you may know, it is usually impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts. The Headmaster has lifted this enchantment, purely within the Great Hall, for one hour, so as to enable you to practise. May I emphasise that you will not be able to Apparate outside the walls of this Hall, and that you would be unwise to try. I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."

There was a great scrambling and jostling as people separated, banged into each other, and ordered others out of their space. Somehow, Sam managed to shove me so I was right behind Malfoy ,and I wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not.

"I don't know how much longer, all right?" Malfoy shot at Crabbe, oblivious to Sam and I standing right behind him. "It's taking longer than I thought it would. Look, it's none of your business what I'm doing, Crabbe, you and Goyle just do as you're told and keep a lookout!"

"Usually, if you have a lookout, you're meant to tell them what for." I whispered, just loud enough for Malfoy to hear.

He turned around, surprised it was me speaking. When he saw Sam, he raised an eyebrow. "Don't discuss that here unless you want a body part missing--and I don't mean by apparating." Sam said breezily.

The instructor waved his wand. Old-fashioned wooden hoops instantly appeared on the floor in from of every student. "The important things to remember when Apparating are the three Ds!" said Twycross. "Destination, Determination, Deliberation!

"Step one: fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination," said Twycross. "In this case, the interior of your hoop. Kindly concentrate upon that destination now."

I picked up the hoop with a smile, remembering hula-hoop tournaments I used to have with Kayley in primary school

"Step two," said Twycross, "focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"

I imagined myself moving a few feet to the right, but when I looked around I could see Cole concentrating so hard he looked as if he was about to lay an egg. With a smirk, I looked back to my hoop, visualising where I wanted to go.

"Step three," called Twycross, "and only when I give the command ... turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation. On my command, now ... one--"

Lots of people were looking positively alarmed at being asked to Apparate so quickly.

"--two--"

I tried to fix thoughts on the hoop again; I had already forgotten what the three Ds stood for.

"--THREE!"

I spun on the spot, lost my balance and nearly fell over. But the hall was full of staggering people, Neville had pulled Cole down onto the floor with him and I swore I saw Malfoy doing some sort of a piroeutte through his hoop.

"Never mind, never mind," said Twycross dryly, who did not seem to have expected anything better. "Adjust your hoops, please, and back to your original positions ..."

The second attempt was no better than the first. The third was just as bad. Not until the fourth did anything exciting happen. There was a horrible screech of pain from beside me, and I was more than surprised to see Sam wobbling inside her hoop, her leg five feet away from her.

Sam was swearing every word under the sun, but the teachers hurried to her, and in moments her leg was returned to her. She rubbed at it, looking embarassed she hadn't acomplished anything straight away. 

"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts," said Wilkie Twycross dispassionately, "occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continually upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation ... thus."

But an hour later, Sam's Splinching was still the most interesting thing that had happened. The instructor didn't look put off, he said, "Until next Saturday, everybody, and do not forget: Destination. Determination. Deliberation."

With that, he waved his wand, Vanishing the hoops, and walked out of the Hall accompanied by Professor McGonagall. Talk broke out at once as people began moving towards the Entrance Hall.

I followed Harry and Ron out of the hall, Sam saying she had an appointment to get to (most likely in a cupboard with a fifth year). "I think I felt something," Ron said to me. "Like the last time, I had a tingling in my feet..."

"I expect your trainers are too small, Won-Won," said a voice behind them, and Hermione stalked past, smirking.

"I felt nothing, but I'm not too bothered about it." I shrugged.

"You don't want to learn?" Ron gasped.

"Well I prefer flying, plus I want to get my driving liscene at some point." I shrugged, noticing Malfoy dashing out of the hall. "Look, I've got to go, I'll see you later, Won-Won."

He glared at me, but I ignored him, tailing after Malfoy. It was something I'd thought about doing for the last few weeks, but now I'd only had the courage to do it. He barely noticed my presence behind him, concentrating on his destination.

Luckily his ignorance became his downfall as I grabbed him by the hood of his robe and shoved him into a broom cupboard. "Oi!" He yelled, "What do you--Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, it's me." I huffed, fustrated at being in a small space with this boy who'd hurt me in so many ways.

"See, I was under the impression you had a boyfriend, Potter." He said, though there was no hatred in his tone, more like bitterness, which was odd, considering everything.

"I do, you glorified moron, but I needed to talk to you."

"Surprising." Malfoy snorted. "Last time we talked you swore like a sailor."

I wasn't too sure why I was almost being civil with him either, but maybe it was because a part of me was moving on from that hateful boy who broke up with me. "Well it's only been a few minutes, don't get your hopes up." I said impaitently. "Malfoy, I know what you're hiding"

"What?!" He shouted, an odd almost glimmer of hope in his eyes. "You know everything?"

"I know you're a death eater, and you don't have a choice." I said, taking a step away from him. "What did you think I was on about?"

"I--Never mind." He said, though he looked disapointed. "Sam told you, I assume."

"Of course she did, and my brother's not stupid he's guessed already." I shrugged, folding my arms. "I don't know if it was your life ambition to be a death eater, or if Sam's right, you were forced into this, but you have a choice. You can leave."

"I can't." Malfoy said through gritted teeth. "Why do you care anyway?"

He stood closer to me, and I was painfully aware this was the closest we'd been since his broke up with me. "I care. I care for the boy who stopped Umbridge carving words into my skin and promised to love me no matter how screwed my mind up was.

"Well that boy never existed." Malfoy sneered. "This is all me, can't you tell?"

The glimmer of hope I had vanished, and I sighed, putting my hand on the door to leave. "Did you know she's dying?"

"Yes." He said eventually with a sigh. "But I don't care about her. I don't care about anything."

"The boy I once knew would care about his friend. He might even have cried."

"Rory--" He said, his voice almost painful.

"No." I whispered, my voice breaking. "You don't get to call me that, remember? I know you've always hated me and I was just a toy for you to break, but remember--we all have choices. Clearly, you've made yours."

"Rory, please--"

But I ignored him, walking out of that cupboard, knowing once and for all that that boy was lost to me.

- - - - - - - - 

A/N Sorry this chapter took so long, I've been mega busy. But onto important stuff

There will be no updates between March 27th to April 3rd. I am on a skiing holiday in Austria and therefore won't have time to update.

There will also be no updates between May 13th-May 22nd as this is my AS exam period, which if you're from the UK are pretty important exams.

On another note, where have all the comments gone? :( I'm not getting as much as I used to, and it makes me sad as I love receiving your views and reactions to the story. Even if it's saying what you love about this story or telling me to update, or even if it's a critique, I just miss them :(

P.s I've finally finalised how I'm ending this (regarding who Rory ends up with) and I'm very satisfied with it, I hope all of you are as well when the time comes.

I'll try to update soon, there only roughly 16 chapters left!