Nova rolled out of bed with a groan. As she stood, she knew exactly what today was. Careful with her steps, she made her way to the bathroom. She opened the cupboard, but the thing she so desperately needs was missing. 

"Where the fuck are the pads?" She shouted. 

That's right. Nova is on her period. She doesn't complain about them. She is luckier than most girls. She rarely has bad periods. Most times she just bleeds and is a little moody. However, occasionally, she gets really bad periods where she feels like the sun exploded in her uterus. 

"They should be in there!" she heard Lavender say. 

"They're not!" Nova called back. 

The two heard a groan from Hermione's bed. 

Unfortunately for the Brightest Witch of Her Age, she is graced with periods that fell like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. 

She started hers yesterday. 

"Can you ask Binky to get some?" Hermione grumbled. 

"I thought you were against slave labor," Paravati said as she curled into her side. 

The thing about girls' periods, they line up to each other. This means every girl in their dorm room was currently on their menstrual cycle. 

"She pays Binky," Hermione grumbled into her pillow. "Technically Binky is a free elf. She's just under Nova's care."

"Binky!" Nova called as she carefully walked into the girls' dorm. 

With a pop, a house-elf with large blue eyes and a light pink sundress appeared. 

"How can Binky assist, Mistress Nova?" Binky asked. 

"Binks, you say 'How may I assist you?' You don't need to call me mistress and you should continue to work on using first-person pronouns," Nova said softly. 

"Okay, Mistress Nova," Binky agreed. 

Nova knew that no matter how many times she asked Binky to call her 'Nova', she would always be 'Mistress'. She is thankful Binky stopped trying to iron her hands after a while. 

"Can you please get us some pads and tampons?" Nova asked. 

Binky nodded and was gone.

Once Binky returned and gave the girls what they requested, Nova got dressed. 

Seeing as it was Sunday, Nova didn't bother dressing up to annoy Umbitch. She wanted to be comfy. 

"Love, are you wearing my clothes?" Harry asked as Nova walked down the steps into the Common Room. Normally, she would jump but . . .

"Yes," Nova answered with a grin. She wore black sweatpants and a navy blue hoodie. Both articles of clothing were fresh from Harry's wardrobe. This means his sandalwood cologne was fresh. 

"They look good on you," Harry said and winked. 

A blush crept onto Nova's face. Harry is the only person that could make her blush, and he knew it. He made sure Nova knew it too.

"Harry, mate, she's been wearing your clothes since we were eleven," Ron snorted. 

"She's been wearing your clothes since we were eleven," Harry mocked before grumbling under his breath. "Way to ruin my swag, Ron."

"Darlin, don't lie," Nova teased. "I'm the swag and the looks in this relationship."

"He can't even deny it!" Alex laughed as they watched Harry open and close his mouth, trying to find words. 

"Hey, Nox," Ron began in a concerned tone. "Where's Hermione?"

Nova smirked.                                                                                                             

"Don't worry, Ronald, the woman you pretend not to be in love with is fine," she teased "Speaking of, I need to get three vials of pain relief potion from Poppy."

"Why do you need to do that?" Ron asked. 

Harry, at the same time as Ron, said. "Are you alright?"

"Ronald, do you remember in third year when you were convinced Scabbers died and there was blood on your sheets?" Nova asked timidly. 

"Yeah. You said that normally when you get your period you don't run around waving your bloody sheets everywhere," Ron answered confused. 

"Let's just say Hermione is currently curled into a ball on her mattress in pain," Nova stated. 

"Is she alright?" Ron asked, finally understanding what was happening. "Does she need something?"

"The potion I'm going to get her," Nova nodded. "Paravati and Lav are struggling too so I'm getting them some too. But you could go to the kitchens for some chocolate."

Ron was off, running down the corridor to the kitchens. 

"Don't you and Hermione start around the same time?" Harry asked. 

Nova did answer. As weird as it sounded, she was extremely awkward about it. She felt self-conscious about something that happens to all females. She didn't talk about it much.

She sure as hell didn't talk to her dads about it. That was embarrassing enough. 

She knew Minnie always had snacks that helped with cramps. She knew all she had to was tell Tonks and she instantly got Nova what she needs without being told. She knew Hermione gets terrible cramps, and Ginny was moderate (but didn't have it easy as Nova did). 

Harry took Nova's silence as an answer. 

"Harry deer," Lily began in a sickly sweet voice. "If you mess this up, I'm disowning you."

Lily wouldn't be disowning her son today. 

"Do you need anything?" Harry asked quietly and in a calm voice. Despite making jokes about the menstrual cycle, he knew how embarrassed Nova got over it. 

"I'm fine, Darlin," Nova said. 

"One thing I learned between you, Tonks, Hermione, and Ginny," Harry began with a look of uncertainty on his face. "When a girl says she is fine, she isn't fine."

"Valuable lesson," James nodded with a serious look on his face.

"I'm alright, Darlin," Nova grinned. "I don't have it as bad as the others. Only certain cycles I wanna die."

"Please don't die."

"I'll try not to," Nova grinned. 

"Miss Lupin-Black," Poppy greeted as Nova walked in. "You aren't in here for another injury are you?"

Nova was in the hospital wing more often than most. When she was here, Hermione and Ginny had to drag her to the wing. 

"Not this time, Poppy," Nova assured. 

"It's Madam Pomfrey," Poppy corrected.

"Well, Poppy," Nova continued. "It is that certain week-"

"Say no more," Poppy said before rushing off.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Harry asked concerned as he turned to Nova. Her hair was tied into a messy bun. 

"I'm sure. I just can't jump around," Nova stated. "That means I can't win another jumping contest for a few days."

"I won," Harry said stubbornly. 

"Don't fool yourself, Harold," Nova argued. "I clearly won."

"No. I won."

"I won, Darlin." Nova insisted. 

"Love, I clearly won," Harry stated as he ran a hand through his raven hair. 

"Harold, admit to defeat."

"If I did, I'd be lying."

"Bruh, I'm about to fucking launch you."

"Do it."

"There will be no flying boyfriends," Poppy reprimanded as she came back with four vials of pain relief potion, pads, and lots of chocolate. 

"How did-" Harry began to ask. 

"Don't be stupid," Poppy rolled her eyes. "It was in the Quibbler. Not to mention I have been waiting years for the two of you to get together. There's also the fact the moment Minerva found out, she rushed to my office to tell me. It would appear Albus owes both of us some galleons."

Harry looked shocked. 

"No need to look surprised, Mr. Potter." Poppy stated. "What else do we have to occupy our time with? The color of the hag's robes? She wears pink every day."

Nova really wished Poppy didn't make her laugh. It felt like a waterfall was coming from . . .

"Also, I don't want to see any mini yous running around." Poppy raised a challenging brow. "Come to think about it, I will retire the day I have to deal with another Lupin, Black, or Potter."

Both teens were blushing the scarlet of their former Gryffindor Quidditch robes. 

"You tell them, Poppy!" Regulus rejoiced. 

Nova, still blushing, took Poppy's care package. Without meeting his eye, she passed the pads and tampons to Harry. 

"Um, Poppy..." Nova began. "You've given me four potions. We only need three."

"Did you count yourself in that?" Poppy asked as she raised an eyebrow. 

"I don't need it." 

"Too bad." Poppy persisted. "You and your Lupin genes make you believe you aren't worthy enough for help-"

"Poppy, I mean I physically don't need them," Nova stated, holding a bottle out for her. "I'm not having cramps."

"And I said too bad."

"I'm going to make sure Ronald doesn't get white chocolate instead. That shit is disgusting," Nova grimaced. Before she left, she placed on a vial of potion on a side-table. 

Poppy rolled her eyes before striding across the room to pick it up. She placed it in Harry's arms along with a few more. 

"You Mr.Potter, better take care of her," Poppy warned. "Don't let her convince you she is fine all the time. The same goes for you. Make sure you tell her when something is wrong."

"She can tell most of the time anyway. Half the time I'm convinced he knows me better than I know myself." Harry stated proudly. 

"All the more reason not to lose her," Poppy smirked before turning away from the youngest Potter. 

Well . . .that was interesting, Harry thought to himself. 

Later that night, Nova was comforting a crying Lavender Brown. 

Normally Parvati would do this, but she was with her sister. When Nova asked if she should get her, Lav insisted she didn't want to burden anyone. 

But seeing as her crying was interrupting Nova's quiet, she thought she would be a good citizen. 

"Lav, can you tell me what happened?" Nova asked. 

And so the crying female, who was sobbing into Nova's shoulder.

From what Nova gathered, her boyfriend cheated on her. 

"Listen, Lav," Nova began to advise. "Bob, or whatever the hell his name is, doesn't matter to you now. He played with your feeling, and he broke your trust. Don't let him crawl back to you. You will stand tall and show him that you are better off without him. He doesn't deserve your tears."

Lavender sniffed. 

"Boy come and go," Nova stated. "The only constant in your life will be your girls. Actually, sometimes they leave you too. The only constant in your life is ice cream and chocolate. You are a strong and badass woman. You definitely don't need Jeff."

"What about you and Harry?" Lavender snuffled. "You two are couple goals. So much so, some are convinced one of you is under a love potion. Anyone who has known you two for years knows it isn't true."

"Harry is different. He is a good guy. There are good guys out there. You just have to be patient enough to wait." Nova stroked Lavender's hair in hopes of calming her down. "Besides, it doesn't matter if they're a good guy or not. They shouldn't make you feel unworthy. They shouldn't make you feel like shit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how you felt with Joe anyway."

"Thanks, Nova," Lavender said with a small smile. 

Little did both girls know, Nova's speech would change how Lavender looked at herself and the way she should be treated.

***

"You must think of your most powerful memory," Nova told the group as they met for the nest defense meeting. 

"Your memory must be beyond happy. The memory must be something that causes you to feel like you're walking on water. A memory that makes you feel like  you're floating." Harry announced. 

"Don't be discouraged if it takes you a while to get it," Nova told the group. 

"You do it then!" Zacharias Smith said as he frustrated shook his wand. 

"You really don't learn do you?" Nova asked. 

Smith beckoned for them to demonstrate. 

Harry shrugged and stepped forward, trying to ignore the anger Zacharias caused him. He openly flirted with Nova even though it was known she was with Harry. Even when Nova shoots him down, he just comes back. Not to mention, he has repeatedly challenged Harry during meetings. 

"Expecto patronum," Harry called and a large stag pranced from his wand, looking for danger. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Nova's lioness walking about proudly. 

Several minutes later, Hermione's otter was being chased by Ron's terror. 

Lilly's dolphin swam through the air. 

Fred and George's magpies flew through the air. 

Ginny's horse guarded Luna's rabbit. 

Cho's swan twisted gracefully through the air. 

Theo's fox ran around with Blaise's dragonfly (a/n don't ask why his patronus is a dragonfly, it just makes sense to me. It basically means pure and full of joy). 

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy," said Cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson before Easter. "They're so pretty!"

"They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," said Harry patiently. "What we really need is a boggart or something; that's how I learned, I had to conjure a Patronus while the boggart was pretending to be a dementor —" 

"But that would be really scary!" said Lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapor out of the end of her wand. "And I still —can't — do it!" she added angrily. 

Neville was having trouble too. His face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip. 

"You've got to think of something happy," Harry reminded him. 

"I'm trying," said Neville miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat. 

"Harry, Nova, I think I'm doing it!" yelled Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever D.A. meeting by Dean. "Look — ah —it's gone. . . . But it was definitely something hairy, Nova!" 

Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, was gamboling around her. 

"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly. 

The door of the Room of Requirement opened and then closed again; Harry looked around to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before he realized that the people close to the door had fallen silent. The next thing he knew, something was tugging at his robes somewhere near the knee. He looked down and saw, to his very great astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at him from beneath his usual eight hats. 

"Hi, Dobby!" he said. "What are you — what's wrong?" 

For the elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the D.A. closest to Harry had fallen silent now: Everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.

"Harry Potter, sir . . ." squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, "Harry Potter, sir . . . Dobby has come to warn you . . . but the house-elves have been warned not to tell . . ."

He ran headfirst at the wall: Nova, who had some experience of Dobby's habits of self-punishment (and Binky's), made to seize him, but Dobbymerely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls and boys let out squeaks of fear and sympathy. 

"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asked, as Nova grabbed the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself. 

"Harry Potter . . . she . . . she . . ." Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist: Nova seized that too."Who's 'she,' Dobby?" 

"Hey, Dobs, please tell me it isn't Umbridge," Nova pleaded. 

Dobby looking down at the ground and nodded. 

"What about her? Dobby — she hasn't found out about this —about us — about the D.A.?" 

He read the answer in the elf's stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor. 

"Is she coming?" Harry asked quietly. Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. 

"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf. 

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!" 

They all pelted toward the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst through; Harry could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. It was only ten to nine, if they just took refuge in the library or the Owlery, which were both nearer — 

"Harry, come on!" shrieked Hermione from the center of the knot of people now fighting to get out. 

"Harry!" Nova yelled but was dragged out by Theo and Blaise. 

"You can't get caught, Nox," Theo said as Blaise threw her over his shoulder. 

"You'll be expelled for sure if you do," Blaise added. "You know Umbridge will be more lenient with everyone else, including Harry."

***

Nova paced the Common Room anxiously for nearly an hour before Harry appeared. She knew he was caught. 

And she is over her head in guilt. 

She should've dragged him with her. She should've fought harder against her boys. She should've-

"Love?" Harry's voice drifted to Nova's ears. 

Instantly, Nova stopped pacing before launching herself into Harry's arms. 

All the anger that was building up inside of Harry disappeared as Nova wrapped her arms around him. 

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione interrogated as the two pulled away. 

"Dumbledore is gone. I dunno where he is." Harry told. "Marieta Edgecomb now has 'SNEAK' written across her cheeks and nose in pimples."

"It worked!" Hermione said breathlessly. 

"Hell yeah!" Nova yelled triumphantly. 

"Umbridge is now headmistress," Harry said bluntly. 

"Hell no!" Nova grumbled. 

"Any idea where he went?" Ron asked. 

"Not Grimmauld Place," Nova mumbled under her breath so no one could hear her. 

After another hour of talking and joking a bit, Ron and Hermione went to bed. This left Harry and Nova on the couch to talk alone. 

"Love?" Harry asked as he stared down at the girl curled into his side.

"Yes, Darlin?" Nova asked. 

"I-i think I'm losing my mind," Harry stuttered. 

"Why is that?"

"While in Dumbledore's office," Harry began. "I felt the unquenching need to attack someone."

"I feel that every time I'm in the bitch's presence," Nova said. 

"It wasn't Umbridge I wanted to attack."

"I wanna strangle Percy with the Weasley Jumper he returned," Nova stated. 

"Love, I wanted to attach Dumbledore," Harry said causing Nova to freeze. Harry felt her muscles tense, causing fear and dread to shake his heart. "There was this voice. It was almost like it was egging me on."

Nova knew what he meant. Voldemort was influencing him to attack Dumbledore. She wouldn't be opposed, but under Moldy's control was another story. 

"Harry, listen to me," Nova said as she sat up to look into his eyes. "Did you actually attack him?"

"No."

"Then you showed control. So don't start thinking you're some monster." She began as she got lost in his green eyes. "You're Harry Potter. You are a strong and amazing person. I will always be there for you no matter what. Even if you lose your mind, which I doubt is happening."

Harry gave her a small smile before she snuggled back into his side. 

For the tenth time this year, the young couple fell asleep on the couch in the Common Room with Harry's arms wrapped around Nova. 

Author's Note:

THANK YOU FOR 100K reads!

Also . . .I am sick right now. Tomorrow I am getting tested for the flu, strep throat, and COVID.