So it turned out Harry had been following the instructions of some weirdo who'd written in his text book. ('How come you find the cool book to help you pass?' Arthur had sighed). Everybody except Ron thought Harry was an idiot for using it, but Harry being Harry pretended to be deaf.

A week after term began, Harry irritated me even more by sending Hedwig into the dorm super early to annoy me so I'd talk to him. Slumping down next to him in my pyjamas I scowled. "This better be good."

"Okay, so I was at my lesson with Dumbledore yesterday--"

"Ah yes, the one I wasn't invited to." I mumbled jealously. 

Harry shot me a look. "So Dumbledore showed me a memory of Voldemort's mother and grandparents."

"Voldemort had a mother? I thought he was a result of experimetation between a snake and an unfourtnate human." Harry whined, and I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, carry on."

"So his grandfather was awful to his daughter, calling her a squib and strangling her because she liked a muggle, who happened to be Voldemort's dad. And then when the grandfather got chucked in prison, she drugged Tom Riddle with love potion so he'd marry her. And then when she found out she was pregnant, she took the spell off and he left her."

"So much drama, it's like a Jeremy Kyle episode." I muttered. "So are you going through the life of Voldemort?"

Harry shrugged. "I suppose so. But I'll tell you whatever Dumbledore shows me. I don't know why he's being like this, it's not fair."

"Thanks. That's almost worth getting pecked to death by an owl." I got up, hoping I could catch another hour of sleep. I was halfway up the stairs when Harry called my name. Turning around, I frowned.

"You know that ring Dumbledore's been wearing on his dead hand?" I nodded. "It was on Voldemort's Grandfather's hand."

* * * * 

As Arthur had warned us, free lessons quickly didn't turn out to be fun. I ended up spending all my free lessons doing homework before collapsing in bed and not moving until the next morning. Lessons were so complex and hard I barely knew what anyone was on about.

 But it was Quidditch try-outs today, and I was so excited I even procrastinated some papers so my entire mind would be on Quidditch and not what the best leaf was for a stupid poison antidote.

Gennie, Ron, Ginny and Cole were trying out for the team again which I was excited about. If all of us could make it onto the team, I believed we'd all work well together considering we were all such good friends.

Cole wasn't excited like the rest of us though. Ever since Sam snapped at him about his disorder, he'd spend the last couple of weeks downcast and sad. He avoided Sam like the plague, and while he did still laugh at stupid jokes Arthur or Gennie made to cheer him up, you could see the smile didn't meet his eyes.

A small hatred was beginning to grow for Sam once again, as I didn't understand what the hell she was doing. She made a big point last year of how we were her new family, how she hadn't ever felt happier.

But now she was pushing everyone away by hitting us where it hurt the most: Cole with his disorder, Gennie by targetting Cole, and she hurt me by still hanging off Malfoy like a leech.

Obviously I knew nothing was going to happen between the two of them, but it just hurt me that she'd made a huge point to him of how badly he hurt me--but still hung around with him more than she did us.

"Ha!" Harry exclaimed as Hedwig dropped a package into his lap. He un-wrapped it, and I could see a new copy of the potions textbook.

"Great!" Hermione exclaimed. "You can take that tatty graffitted book back now!"

"Are you crazy?" Harry exclaimed. "As if I'm taking it back! I have a plan!"

He ended up shoving the graffitted book inside a brand new cover, and put the clean copy inside the tattered jacket. "I'll give Slughorn back the old book, it's a clean copy so he won't complain."

I rolled my eyes as I shoved my hair into a bun. "And I thought you couldn't get any stupider. This is going to backfire at some point."

At that point, Arthur joined us, sitting in-between Cole and I, clutching a paper. "Two more dementor attacks and an arrest." he sighed.

"I thought you were trying to make me happier," Cole said dryly, stirring around  his ignored breakfast.

Arthur shot him a look. "Sadly it's not Bellatrix or the other psychopath-who-shall-not-be-named. But that guy who was conductor for the Knight Bus was arrested. I think he was under the imperius to be honest."

"I guess if there is something there, they've got to check." Gennie sighed. "People are so terrified now. I heard Eloise Midgen was taken out of school last night."

"What a shame," Arthur snorted at the mention of his ex, "And I was talking to Camille earlier. She wants to go home, not that I blame her. But the question is, where's safest? At home or Hogwarts?"

I wasn't sure anymore.

* * * 

As expected, trials took most of the morning. Last time I'd even gone to try outs was during my third year to get on the team, and even then only ten other people showed up. But now it looked like half the Gryffindors turned up, from 1st to 7th year.

"So glad I'm not sorting this mess out." Gennie snorted, cracking her knuckles and ready for business. She'd been on the team since her second year, and I could just see she wasn't prepared to give her spot up easily.

I was shoving my hair into my helmet when a stocky boy I vaugley recognised came up to me.

"We met on the train, in old Sluggy's compartment," he said confidently, stepping out of the crowd to shake my hand. "Cormac McLaggen, Keeper."

"Yeah, well there's been no trials yet so don't count your chickens." I scoffed, ignoring his hand. I'd heard from Arthur that McClaggen was a total arrogant idiot who treated girls like rubbish, so I prayed he wouldn't be on the team. "Plus, you didn't try out last year, there were spots open then."

"I was in the hospital wing when they held the trials," said McLaggen, with something of a swagger. "Ate a pound of Doxy eggs for a bet."

"Right," said Harry, appearing with a clipboard. "Well... if you wait over there ..."

He waved over in the general direction of the stands, close to where Hermione and Arthur were sitting together. Arthur looked faintly embarassed for some reason as Hermione nudged him. When he noticed I was staring, he waved his hand widely, almost hitting his good eye in the face.

I smiled to myself. He was dorky yet adorable without even trying.

Harry made us all go into groups of ten and fly around the pitch. This was great, as it ruled out a load of incomptent people who couldn't even ride a broomstick properly. 

The next two hours were spent with gruelling flying and goal shooting against players who clearly wanted to replace us from the team. But eventually, Harry called all remaining people down to say his decision.

"Okay, I've found my chasers." I held my breathe, hoping I'd made it. Quidditch helped to keep away the darker days, and I wasn't sure what I'd do if I didn't have it as my support. "My new chasers are: Gennie Lupin, Rory Potter and Ginny Weasley." people started complaining as the three of us shared a team hug, but Harry spoke over them. "Yes, I know them and they're my friends. But they're the best people for the job! Though if I need a substitute because somebody's unable to play--" Harry shot me a look and I grinned at him, "Demelza Robins will take their place."

Harry then said his new beaters were Cole and Jimmy Peakes, Alia's friend from the year below who could hit a bludger with the strength of two giants.

"Just make sure you actually hit the people Cole, don't chicken out of doing it." Harry said sternly.

"I don't want to hut anybody." Cole said, though he was smiling more than he'd done in days. "You gotta aim for the legs, you can't ride a broom with a busted leg."

The keeper trials were starting now, and I had a feeling Harry did this because less people would be around to laugh at Ron's mistakes. But of course, everybody who was rejected hung around to watch.

To my displeasure, McClaggen saved four penalties out of five that Ginny shot towards him. On the last one though he soared off in the wrong direction, and the crowd laughed.

Ron looked ready to pass out as he mounted his broom.

"Good luck!" cried a voice from the stands. I expecting to see Hermione, but it was Lavender Brown.

Remembering she'd kept saying hi to Ron in corridors and gushing to Parvati all night about her new crush, it was easy to piece together why she was here. I rolled my eyes. The idea of Ron and Lavender together was quite disgusting.

But maybe because Lavender kept shouting to Ron, he ended up saving five penalties in a row. I cheered with everybody else, seeing Harry was resisting the urge to cheer as well.

"His sister didn't really try," said McLaggen menacingly to Harry as I reached the ground.  "She gave him an easy save."

"Rubbish," said Harry coldly. "That was the one he nearly missed."

McLaggen took a step nearer Harry, who stood his ground this time. "Give me another go."

"Are you deaf?" I said. "You saved four, Ron saved five. He won his place fair and square."

"Exactly, and I'm not changing my mind." Harry said cooly. "Now get out of my way."

I thought McLaggen might hit Harry, but he just glared at the two of us before storming off, cursing at the wind.

We ended up in Hagrid's for the rest of the afternoon, where he ended up yelling at us for not carrying on with magical creatures. But in the end Cole managed to convince him we couldn't have another NEWT, but he'd pick it if he could.

It was a lie, but a convicing one.

Hagrid then told us that a giant spider was dying, apparently one that tried to eat Harry in his second year. Cole promised he'd try and find some ridiculously complicated antidote in Sam's room next time he was home, which cheered Hagrid up immensly.

As we all headed off for dinner, I thought of something that had been nagging at my brain since the trials. I pulled Hermione aside, watching as McLaggen staggered into the hall. "Did you confound McLaggen into not saving that shot?"

Hermione blushed bright pink. "Fine, I did." she whispered. "Oh, but he was being awful about Ron and Ginny! Not to mention the things Arthur said McLaggen's said to him over the years. He's very angry, Harry wouldn't want someone like that on the team."

"I agree with you there. But isn't that cheating, Hermione? I mean, you're a prefect, meant to follow the rules."

"Shut up, Rory." Hermione said, turning pink again as I chuckled.

After the others called for us to catch up, we hurried down the hall after them, just as Arthur skidded down the corridor towards us, narrowly avoiding running into a suit of armour.

He placed his hands on my shoulders, looking breathless. "I need a date."

"Is this how forward you are with all your dates?" I giggled as I told Hermione to go ahead, and she was laughing about something for some reason.

Arthur rolled his eyes and released his grip on my shoulders. "Not like that," he whined. "Slughorn told me there's some weird Slug club dinner tonight, and I have to go because I'm head boy. And he said I have to show up with a date! So I thought of you!"

"Oh, I'm the first person on your mind when you hear the word date, huh?"

"No--No, course not, I just--agh!" Arthur exclaimed. "You're like my best friend, and I can't take Ben because I have a feeling Slughorn would be weirded out by that, and--ugh, you'd be doing me a favour, please."

I thought about it. I hadn't been somewhere I could wear nice clothes and have genuine fun in what seemed like forever. Plus, Arthur was desperate...

"What will you give me?"

Arthur looked up thoughtfully. "I'll give you a limited edition Squirtle figurine I found at a comic con, plus I'll give you the answers to your Herbology paper."

"Deal." I grinned. "See you at eight."

* * * 

But by half seven, I was freaking out.

I didn't know what to wear, my hair wasn't wanting to stop being a tangled mess, and generally this was all making me stressed and anxious for some reason.

"You're really freaking out, aren't you?" Gennie chuckled, she had been watching me with an amused look for the last fifteen minutes.

"Yeah, well I wanted to wear a dress, but I gave my Yule Ball dress to Oxfam because of the stupid memories behind it, and I'm pretty sure Alia has taken every other dress I own!"

Gennie rolled her eyes, and went into her trunk, throwing a dress at me. "Just borrow this, you moron."

It was her Yule Ball dress, though for some reason Gennie had altered it so it came just above the knee. Sighing in relief, I tugged the dress on and found a pair of black heels I'd stolen from Lacey.

"Okay, now I'm freaking out less. Can you help me with my eyeliner?"

Gennie nodded, and started working on eyeliner wings I just couldn't master. "It's funny," Gennie chuckled. "That dress has only ever been worn for dates with Wilde boys."

I jerked back in surprise, eyeliner swooping up the side of my face. "E-Excuse me?" I stammered. "It's not a date!"

Gennie rolled her eyes. "Yeah okay, sure. And I didn't have an obsessive crush on your brother four years ago."

"Arthur is my friend! I'm doing him a favour!" I huffed, wiping off the excess eyeliner from around my eyes.

"Yeah sure, but you are attracted to him." Gennie snorted. "God, it's like your going on a first date. It's quite cute actually."

"I'm not attracted to him, God!" I laughed, though my heart was pounding in my chest. "I mean, he's got really nice grey eyes and I like it when his fringe is all curly after he washes it and--stop laughing at me!"

Gennie smiled again, sitting opposite me on the bed. "I get it, you don't want to admit it, because it's too soon after Malfoy."

A heavy weight latched itself onto my chest. "You can't just fall in love with somebody so soon after your heart has broken."

"I never said anything about love." Gennie said softly. "Look, Rory. All I'm saying is that you are attracted to Arthur. You clearly think he's handome--I mean he's Cole's cousin, so of course he'd be--and sometimes I just catch you both looking at each other..." she sighed, and helped me wipe away some eyeliner from my eyebrow.

"Look, I don't know exactly how off the rails you went this summer, because you pushed us all away again. But you let Arthur in, you let him see the darkest parts of you mind. You bonded with him this summer, relied on him to pull you out of those thoughts you get... You can't just not deeply care about someone after they give you the strength to save yourself."

I could see where she was coming from, as strange and foreign as it all sounded. But instead I just said, "Do you mind fixing my eyeliner wing?"

In silence, Gennie helped me with the wings and then passed me my dark lipstick. "I'm not trying to force you into anything, okay? I just don't want you doing a Malfoy 2.0 when you ignore your feelings for somebody until they all pour out in the heat of the moment."

I looked at my watch. "It's almost eight. I'd better go now."

Arthur was waiting outside Gryffindor tower in his dress robes, his fringe with a little curl to it, still damp. Feeling like little moths were tumbling around in my stomach, I smiled at him.

"Hi."

"Hey," Arthur grinned, that big cheesy grin that couldn't keep anybody sad. "You look almost as good as I imagine Legolas would in real life."

"Still not taking a break from those references, huh?" I laughed. I held out my hand, and Arthur took it with a smile.

"Well I think it's more heartfelt than saying hot, because what does that mean? Does it mean the person is on fire? Because that's not attractive, in fact it could kill somebody!"

"Yeah, well you don't look so bad yourself." I smiled, squeezing his hand again. "I'd compare you to a hobbit, but you're too tall."

"Funny." Arthur rolled his eyes, and we headed off down the corridor, and I wasn't sure if it was Gennie's words--but I was certainly feeling a lot more different about holding his hand now.

We luckily weren't the last ones to Slughorn's dinner, and managed to sneak inside and sit next to Blaise and some other person--possibly a girl called Melinda?--before Slughorn noticed us.

"Ah, Arthur m'boy!" Slughorn clapped his hands together when he noticed us. "So glad to see you took my advice and brought a date! None other than Aurora Potter as well!"

"She's pretty cool." Arthur said, a small blush on his cheeks.

"And is your brother coming too?" Slughorn asked me eagerly.

"Nah, he's probably off saving a herd of unicorns from flesh eating spiders with one hand or something." I shrugged, and I couldn't help smile as Arthur almost choked on his firewhisky from laughter.

Hermione ended up turning up as well, and got stuck next to McLaggen, who kept trying to hit on her with lame pick-up lines every few minutes.

But the meal ended up not being as bad as I thought it'd be. The food was nice (not to mention the firewhisky Arthur snuck into my cup, making us both a bit giggly) and the atmosphere wasn't too formal--basically it was worth a pokemon figurine.

Though after what seemed like the sixth time us explaining what our families had done for us to be invited, talk turned to hobbies. "Does anyone have some interesting hobbies? I've always liked collected crystallised pineapples." Slughorn said with a dreamy look in his eye.

We went around the table saying what we liked to do, and soon it came to me. "Um, well I like drawing." I began. "I just like creating things with my hands that people enjoy and appreciate. And reading and watching animes with my sister. I don't have a lot of time on my hands with the world ending every two seconds, mind."

Slughorn nodded, not seeming that impressed. "Arthur, the head boy himself! What do you like doing?"

Startled, Arthur looked up. "Well reading is pretty much my life, even though I can't see very well. Though I love baking and gardening with my mum, we made the best bunch of mini-muffins with this pink icing--"

He was cut off by McLaggen snorting. "Are you choking? Do you want a thump on the back?" Arthur said cheerily, though there was an edge to his voice.

McLaggen looked startled. "Well, that stuff is pretty girly, I mean what sort of boy plays around with flowers and likes the colour pink? You might as well be a girl!"

I was about to say something, but Arthur just carried on smiling and picked up a bread roll from a side plate. "I don't like these gender rolls. They seem a bit old and pointless."

Everybody was silent for a moment, until Slughorn started conversation back up. My heart was swollen with pride at Arthur. He wasn't afraid to admit what he liked, and managed to give comebacks without even looking angry.

I couldn't help look at him out of the corner of my eye as he started a conversation about how you easy it is to grow your own wolfsbane plants if you had the time. I just admired him so much, how passionate he was about what he loved.

And I couldn't help but be attracted to his personality at least.

Soon the meal was over and Arthur was taking me back to Gryffindor tower, ours hands still together. "So, was that worth a pokemon figurine?" Arthur asked.

"Totally." I smiled, feeling nervous. But not in the way of wanting to leave, nervous of all that I wanted to say but couldn't bare to admit. "You... Arthur, you are a brilliant human being."

He shrugged, but a modest little smile was on his face. "I try my best."

"Thanks for tonight, I just... I'm really happy when we do things together." I admitted, and before I could stop myself, I kissed Arthur on the cheek.

He blushed dark red, so I made it my cue to give him a goodbye hug. With my heels on, I was almost as tall as him, my head resting on his shoulder. A familiar scent was in the air, one I recognised from somewhere.

"What's that smell?" I asked.

"Sorry about that, I have this hideiously cheap cologne." Arthur said sheepishly. "I use it to make up for my lack of facial hair."

"I'll uh, see you tomorrow." I said shyly, climbing through the portrait.

Once inside, I pressed my back against the door, painfully obvious over what had happened. The colgone that I'd smelt in the love potion was the one Arthur wore... Whether I liked it or not, it looked as if Gennie was right---I was attracted to him.

- - - - - - - 

A/N This is probably going to be a long author's note, but it's important okay. If you don't care, scroll to the end because I'll be saying about possible new hp fanfics.

I can almost guarntee people are going to be like 'It's only been a couple of months, Rory can't move on already'. She's not moving on, she's still got feelings for Draco, the reason why she's holding back. Like Gennie said, she's got a strong connection with Arthur after all they went through, so she's going to be attracted to him.

And this is true, as I've shared a lot of personal stuff with my crush (who will never ever like me back) and I find myself attracted to her for all she's helped me through.

And it takes different times to get over people, remember that. It depends on the person and circumstances of how the relationship ended. Rory believes that Draco does hate her, so is losing faith of anything happening with him. (will that change when her memories return? You'll have to wait and see)

Okay rant over, here's some important stuff

So I've got two hp fanfics that I've been writing, and considering posting. Which idea does everybody prefer?

Not All Slytherins: About a girl called Felicia Adams who proves that the steretype about all Slytherins being bad is wrong.

Haunted: A story about Luna's older sister, Yuki, who can ghosts who don't want to be seen by others.

I'll hopefully be updating again soon, depending on my work :)