Harry and Ron left the hospital wing first thing on Monday morning, back to their normal annoying selves. The positive about the whole thing was that Hermione was friends with Ron again (but I think they both wanted to be more).

Hermione, Gennie and I got them from the hospital wing and Hermione told them that Ginny had been arguing with Dean. I'd heard the arguments, and it did get pretty heated. It looked like Ginny and Dean would be breaking up soon, which I was looking forward to.

"What did they row about?" he asked, trying to sound casual as we passed a first year girl. She dropped her potion scales and they shattered.

"It's all right!" said Hermione kindly, hurrying forward to help her. "Here ..."

She tapped the broken scales with her wand and said, "Reparo." The girl did not say thank you, but remained rooted to the spot as they passed and watched them out of sight; Ron glanced back at her.

"I swear they're getting smaller," I muttered.

"Well you and the boys are giants, so..." Gennie teased, and I shoved her almost into the wall, shrieking.

"Never mind," said Harry, a little too impatiently. "What did Ginny and Dean row about?"

"Oh, Dean was laughing about McLaggen hitting that Bludger at you," I said. "Mind you, I was about to argue with him before Ginny stood in."

"It must've looked funny," said Ron reasonably.

"It didn't look funny at all!" said Hermione hotly. "It looked terrible and if somebody hadn't used that slowing down spell he could have been very badly hurt!"

"Yeah, well, there was no need for Ginny and Dean to split up over it," said Harry, still trying to sound casual. "Or are they still together?"

"Yes, they are--but why are you so interested?" asked Hermione, giving Harry a sharp look.

"I just don't want my Quidditch team messed up again!" he said hastily, but Hermione continued to look suspicious.

"He's so obvious it's funny," Gennie snorted, and I held back a smile, thinking how ironic the situation was. Three years ago, Gennie might have ripped Ron's sister's head off for Harry even daring to like her.

How things change.

"Harry!" Luna had appeared at the end of the corridor and was dashing towards us, her radish earrings swinging.

"Hey, Luna." I smiled. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you." she said with a dreamy smile. She turned to Harry, rummaging in her bag. "I went to the hospital wing, but they said you'd left..."

She pulled out a large green onion, a toadstool and what appeared to be cat litter into Ron's hand, before pulling out a piece of parchment.

"... I've been told to give you this."

It was a small roll of parchment, which Harry was apparently the time of his lesson with Dumbledore that evening--which I still couldn't go to. 

"Nice commentary last match!" said Ron to Luna as she took back the green onion, the toadstool, and the cat litter. Luna smiled vaguely.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" she said. "Everyone says I was dreadful."

"No, I'm serious!" said Ron earnestly. "I can't remember enjoying commentary more! What is this, by the way?" he added, holding the onionlike object up to eye level.

"Oh, it's a Gurdyroot," she said, stuffing the cat litter and the toadstool back into her bag. "You can keep it if you like, I've got a few of them. They're really excellent for warding off Gulping Plimpies."

"That'd be great, the Quibbler said they were a right pest." I said genuinly. As odd as her father's maagazine was, I still got a subscription and intently read them every Tuesday.

"There's a free one in next week's issue." Luna said with an excited smile, before skipping off.

"You know, she's grown on me, Luna," Ron said, the Gurdyroot in hand as we set off again for the Great Hall. "I know she's insane, but it's in a good --"

He stopped talking very suddenly. Lavender Brown was standing at the foot of the marble staircase looking thunderous.

"Hi," said Ron nervously.

"We'll leave you to it, Ronald." Gennie said, clapping his shoulder, before leading us away from the seeming argument brewing.

"--Why was she with you?" I heard Lavender shriek as we hurried down the corridor.

"Something tells me both of our Weasley friends will be single by the end of the week." Gennie sniggered.

And it looked like Gennie was right, because Ron looked sulky and annoyed when he appeared at breakfast half an hour later. He was sat with Lavender, but I didn't see them exchange a single word. Hermione could be seen smirking at several points during their awkward silence.

Harry had told me that in his other meeting with Dumbledore, he'd been taken into Voldemort's adulthood. He'd asked for a job as defence teacher but was turned down by Dumbledore.

So once again Harry drafted me into getting the memory from Slughorn. I was in a slump at figuring out how to convince him, so I was heavily relying on Harry for once (plus I wasn't the one who had to get the memory he was).

Harry angrily flipped through his potions book on Sunday, trying to find any spell that could help us. Pretty much everybody was here for once---Cole was lying on top of Gennie on one sofa as she tried to read a book for charms, while Arthur and I were intertwined on one chair. Hermione, Harry and Ron were spread out across the other sofa, Ron and Hermione closer than nessecary.

"You won't find anything in there," said Hermione firmly.

"Don't start, Hermione," said Harry. "If it hadn't been for the Prince, Ron wouldn't be sitting here now."

"He would if you'd just listened to Snape in our first year," said Hermione dismissively.

"Who even listened to Snape in first year? I didn't." Arthur snorted.

"There's a reason you're failing potions, and that is possibly one of them." I pointed out and Arthur pouted at me. "Plus, you're too cute for Snape to think of liking. He likes death and scowling, everybody knows that."

Hardly anybody else was in the common room apart from us. After we'd returned from dinner we'd found a notice that announced the date for the apparation test.

Those who would be seventeen on or before the first test date, the twenty-first of April, had the option of signing up for additional practice sessions, which would take place (heavily supervised) in Hogsmeade.

Only Cole, Hermione and Ron would be taking the test though. Gennie wasn't seveteen until May 5th, while Harry and I had to wait right up until July. But I didn't mind. With all that was going on, I wouldn't be in the peaceful state of mind you needed to apparate.

"Once we're both seventeen and the exams finish, we're going to Disney again!" Cole said excitedly to Gennie, pressing his face into the crook of her neck. "All of them, screw the money we're going to America, Paris--wherever the hell the other Disney Lands are..."

"Cole, you realise there's a war just around the corner?" Arthur said softly, pulling his arm around me more.

"Well when that's all over, we're living in Paris and can visit whenever we want." Gennie scowled at Arthur, since Cole's wide smile had fallen, before lightly tracing her hand over Cole's lip ring.

"Yeah, don't be a crab cake, Arthur." Cole snorted. "Plus, Disney is the happiest place in the world. We could use some of that right now."

"I'm telling you, the stupid Prince isn't going to be able to help you with this, Harry!" said Hermione, loudly, making the four of us look up. She flushed at the attention before continuing. "There's only one way to force someone to do what you want, and that's the Imperius Curse, which is illegal --"

"Tell me about it." Cole muttered, voice far away as he finally climbed off Gennie and curled up on the other side of the sofa. With his sleeves pulled over his face and shaking hands, it was a quick reminder that what his brother did still hurt him.

"You know I said you've been a bad influence on me?" Arthur mumbled into my hair as he kissed my head.

"Yeah?"

"Well would it be really bad if I killed my cousin?" Arthur said lowly so Cole wouldn't hear. "I mean look at him. Even the mention of the curse is triggering him--Cameron still breaks him, and I can't stand it any longer."

Arthur looked close to tears, so I quicky turned around to kiss him quickly. "You'll have to get in quick, everybody in this room wants to be the one to kill him."

We cuddled closer, and once again I was thankful that I had this boy.

"I love you, Hermione," said Ron suddenly, sinking back in his chair, rubbing his eyes wearily.

"I knew it." I muttered under my breath and Arthur giggled.

Hermione turned faintly pink, but merely said, "Don't let Lavender hear you saying that."

"I won't," said Ron into his hands. "Or maybe I will, then she'll ditch me."

"Why don't you ditch her if you want to finish it?" asked Harry.

"You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you?" said Ron. "You and Cho just --"

"Sort of fell apart, yeah," said Harry.

That scenario sounded familar to me as well, and it left me with a short stabbing pain in my heart--Malfoy once again finding ways to hurt me without being here.

"Wish that would happen with me and Lavender," said Ron gloomily, "But the more I hint I want to finish it, the tighter she holds on. It's like going out with the giant squid."

"Hey now, that's an insult to the giant squid." Cole said, perking up again. "He gives great hugs."

Crack.

Dobby appeared alongside Kreacher, his tea-cozy hat askew. Cringing, I gave them a smile, knowing that nobody else knew until now I had enlisted the elves help.

"Dobby has been helping too, Aurora Potter!" he squeaked, casting Kreacher a resentful look. "And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"

"What are they doing here?" Arthur said curiously. "What's happening?"

I felt slightly guilty that I hadn't told him, but Malfoy was such a touchy subject for both of us I thought it'd be better to stay quiet.

"Well... they've been following Malfoy for me," I said sheepishly. "He's up to something bad!"

"Night and day," croaked Kreacher.

"Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!" said Dobby proudly, swaying where he stood.

Hermione looked indignant.

"You haven't slept, Dobby? But surely Rory, you didn't tell him not to--"

"No, of course I didn't," I reassure her. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But has either of you found out anything?" 

"Master Malfoy moves with a nobility that befits his pure blood," croaked Kreacher at once. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of--"

"Yeah, we don't need to hear about you being in love with Malfoy," Harry told Kreacher. "Let's fast forward to where he's actually been going."

Kreacher bowed again, looking furious, and then said, "Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of--"

"Dobby, you tell me," I said, cutting across Kreacher. "Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?"

"Aurora Potter, miss," squeaked Dobby, his great orblike eyes shining in the firelight, "the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection. He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters--"

"The Room of Requirement!" said Harry, smacking himself hard on the forehead with Advanced Potion-Making. We all stared at him. "That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing... whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map--come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"

"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Cole.

"I think it'll be part of the magic of the room," said Hermione. "If you need it to be unplottable, it will be."

"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?" said Harry eagerly.

"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible," said Dobby.

"No, it's not," Gennie said at once. "Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so someone will be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."

"Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because Marietta had blabbed. He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into." Arthur pointed out.

"There'll be a way around that," said Harry dismissively. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby."

"Yeah come on, high five." I said, holding out my hand and Dobby lightly hit it. "Now both of you get some sleep."

"Thank you, Aurora Potter, miss!" squeaked Dobby happily, and he too vanished.

"Well he'd better watch out, we're getting him cornered." I smiled deviously, as knowing what Malfoy had been told to by Voldemort helped unravel the mysteries behind that strange boy.

* * * * 

We'd barely been in defence class for ten minutes before Snape was picking on Harry the next day.

"Let us ask Mr Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."

The whole class looked around at Harry, who looked panicked. "Er--well--ghosts are transparent --" he said.

"Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it in easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. Ghosts are transparent."

Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle and I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid --"

"A five-year-old could have told us as much," sneered Snape. "The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth ... and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent. "

"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a look to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?"

Arthur burst into a snort of a giggly snort which then set the rest of the class off with laughter, until Snape looked at us all with a death glare.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor," said Snape. "I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room."

Ron looked annoyed and like he wanted to say something, but luckily he stayed quiet.

"Now open your books to page two hundred and thirteen," said Snape, smirking a little, "and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse."

The class was very quiet and ultimatley boring for the rest of the lesson, the only plus to it that was that Arthur held my hand under the table for the whole of it. After the bell went, Harry and Ron ran off to try and lose Lavender, who had now taken to stalking Ron.

Hermione had gone off with Cole and Gennie, so Arthur and I were left with a free lesson to ourselves. Within ten minutes we ended up on a sofa in Gryffindor common room, feet pressed against each other.

Arthur had his glasses on and was trying to be serious as he studied something for his seventh year Herbology class, and the angle of his concentration face was so perfect, I had to start to sketch it. I was halfway through the glass sheen of his fake eye when he broke posistion, pushing his hair back.

"Arthur!" I exclaimed, lightly kicking his trainer "I was in the middle of drawing you!"

"Well that's quite creepy, dear girlfriend." he said with a smile. "I mean, I'm not doing anything exciting. I thought we established you'd paint me like a french girl."

"Shut up," I groaned. "The angles and lighting was all right, please, please, please go back to how you were before."

Arthur groaned, but nodded, going almost exactly to how he was before. "You're lucky I love you," He chuckled under his breath.

"What?" I said sharply, my breath and pencil falling away all at once.

"N-n-never mind, n-n-never mind, I said nothing." Arthur stammered, through he was turning steadily pink. "Just--Just go back to drawing me."

But I didn't go back to drawing. Everything seemed to be slowly imploding. What I liked about my relationship with Arthur was that we were going at a reasonable pace. No big words had been said, no promises. Just Arthur and Rory.

"Art--" I whispered, shutting my book. I felt awful, just awful. But would it be better if I just said it to him now?

"Don't." Arthur said softly, brushing his hand against mind. "Don't say it just because I stupidly blurted it out. I'd rather go through awkward silences from you than hear something fake and forced."

"I-I want to say it." I whispered, shutting my eyes to blink past stupid tears. I just wanted to be able to confidently tell Arthur those words, but there was almost a barrier stopping me from vocalising it. "I just can't. Not yet."

"I get it." Arthur said, sounding almost bitter. "Malfoy. I do get it, you know. I wouldn't tell El I loved her for ages, I was stuck in the past. But I'm not anymore. I moved on. I loved other people..."

Feeling heat rise to my cheeks, I shakily said, "Was that an indirect to how I'm stuck in the past? Because I loved him for almost three years, a couple of months with you isn't going to change things straight away."

"I've loved you for almost three years, Rory... I understand, really I do. I just... I don't want this to be a one-sided waste of time."

Feeling almost angry, I pulled my legs up to my chest. "Don't. Don't do that thing where you don't get angry when really you should."

"Well I'm not the shouting type, you know that." Arthur said, an almost irritated tone to his voice. "And if you want screaming matches, you can go and find it."

I swung my legs off the sofa and just stared at Arthur, who stil looked deadly calm but wounded. "No, just shout at me." I said, my voice shaking and breaking. "Tell me that I'm an awful person and a piece of shit who doesn't deserve somebody as perfect as you."

"Rory--"

I ignored him, carrying on. "The fact I can't give you all the love you deserve because of one boy who smashed my heart into pieces kills me, and I'd give anything to make this moment like a fairytale where I'd say it back. I just--"

My voice finally broke and tears started down my face, blurring my vision. The guilt and hurt for hurting Arthur, even in a seemingly minor reason was taking me over. But then I felt soft arms around me, and it took me almost a minute to realise Arthur was holding me.

"No, no, no, sweetheart, I don't feel like that." Arthur mumbled into my hair. "It--It just hurts to think you aren't completley over somebody who hurt you. But, I've gone through much worse. I'm not going to leave you--well unless you want me to."

"I don't." I choked out.

He pulled me closer, and I let him, and I felt him softly kiss my neck in comfort. "I know me being stupid just levelled this relationship up to dangerously serious levels, and I'm sorry for that. I--I just care about you a lot, well, love you."

"And now it's just going so fast..." I trailed off.

"We, we could have a break." Arthur said tentativley. "Not like a Ross and Rachel break, a nicer break. Still being together, but keeping distance, so we can... well get used to us. We've been together for almost three months and spent almost every day together... and I don't want our closeness to ruin this. It's so good, so precious. I don't want to lose it."

"Neither do I." I said softly, kissing him on the cheek. "But just for the record--Ross and Rachel weren't on a break, Ross is just an idiot."

- - -  - - - - - 

A/N Sort of a filler, but sort of important as well.

Thoughts on Arthur blurting out his feelings to Rory? Do you think he's right to be a bit annoyed, or is Rory in the right for wanting things to be slow?

I'm really excited for a few chapters time as all the REAL action begins :DD

FOR THOSE WATCHING THE TWITCAM ON THE 14TH: The twitcam will now be 1PM GMT TIME. Hopefully I'll still be able to do it, but keep an eye out incase I have to cancel it. If I am doing it, I'll post a message to followers to give the link :))

If you don't have a twitter account in order to comment, are there any questions you'd like me to answer? (regarding the series or just me in general if you're actually interested lol).