I walked through the hallway, trying to find Star quickly so that we could go outside and practise our spellcasting.

She dashed up to me. "Is it cool if Draco joins us?"

"Yeah, that's fine," I said indifferently. Draco walked out of the dining room, oblivious to our presence. He held two green apples in his hand. Upon noticing us, he waved a greeting and tossed one of the apples towards me. I caught it, unsure of what to do with it.

"I noticed that you didn't come down to breakfast this morning," he explained.

"Thanks," I said, taking a bite.

He nodded. "Are we going outside or what?"

We followed Star outside and I was instantly drawn to the beauty it held. The rolling, open land that spread around the mansion was incredible. Everywhere I looked, if I didn't see the manor, I saw grass, kept short by magic. Star followed the trimmed hedges out into the middle of the garden, in between a fountain and flowerbed.

"Hi, Alvis!"

My eyes jerked up to see that Star was waving at a man who was walking towards us with a wand in hand. He had short brown hair with the start of a beard, and his eyes seemed flowing with wisdom, kindness, and wit.

"My two favourite twins, hello!" he greeted, voice soft and joyful. "I see that you have a friend?"

"Yes, sir," I responded. "My name is Y/n Potter."

I nodded. He shook my hand immediately. "It's an honour to finally meet you." He released my hand and turned back to Draco and Star.

"According to your father, your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from the previous year failed to introduce you to a large number of essential spells. I am going to be introducing some of those to you today. We'll be starting with Rennervate, a spell that is used to undo another. It is usually used on one who has been Stunned, reviving the person instantly rather than waiting for it to wear off." The man turned to Star. "May I please Stun you to show the charm in action?"

Star stepped forward and nodded.

"Stupefy!"

Star's body froze; she was Stunned.

Alvis faced Draco and I, then gave us the instructions for how the spell works.

"Rennervate!"

Star's body was instantly freed, and she turned to greet us again.

"Draco and Y/n, practise on each other."

I gulped, scared of being Stunned.

"Don't worry, Y/n, I'll make sure that you're okay," Draco said, apparently seeing the fear in my face.

I nodded.

"I'm going to do the charm now," he added. "Take a deep breath and try to relax."

His voice was calm, easing me with every word. Soon, my body was frozen. I couldn't move, no matter what I tried. I was stuck.

"Rennervate!" Draco shouted.

Fluidity streamed through my body again, and I shook my hands to prove to myself that I was fine.

"See? You're alright. Now, you try it on me."

"Okay," I answered. "Stupefy!"

His body went still, and guilt flooded through me as I realised he was going through the same thing I had just done. I undid the spell quickly, happy to see that he was fine. In fact, he seemed completely unphased by being Stunned. Maybe this wasn't his first time.

"Great job, I see you were all successful with the charm!" Alvis said excitedly. "This spell can be very beneficial in a battle. That's all I have to teach you for now, but I'll see you next week."

~~~

At the start of August, my stay with the Malfoys was interrupted by Harry. He knocked on the door and said that I needed to come with him.

I agreed to go, only because I wasn't sure why he needed me and it could be serious, and that's how I found myself standing at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place with Harry and a group of other people I didn't know.

We walked inside. Instantly, Mrs Weasley greeted us with hugs, and told me and Harry to run upstairs to see Ron and Hermione.

"Harry, Y/n! Ron, they're here, they're here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you?" Hermione shrieked, hugging us both with a strong intensity. "Are you alright? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless, but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got to tell us, the Dementors! When we heard, and that Ministry hearing, it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations-"

"Let them breathe, Hermione," said Ron, grinning.

Confusion flooded through me as I processed Hermione's words. "Wait, what do you mean Dementors? Did you get yourself expelled?" I asked Harry.

Red blush dusted his cheeks. Sheepishly, he began to explain what had happened while I was at the Malfoys. "Dudley and I were at the park, and a group of Dementors flew up to us and started attacking Dudley. I used my wand to ward them off. The next thing I knew, I was receiving letters about being expelled from Hogwarts, but I talked to Sirius and he said that I couldn't be expelled without a trial."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything else, there was a soft whooshing sound, and something white soared from the top of the wardrobe, landing gently on Harry's shoulder.

"Hedwig!"

"She's been in a right state," said Ron. "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this--"

He showed us one of his fingers, which sported a half-healed but clearly deep cut.

"Oh yeah," Harry said. "Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know."

"We wanted to give you them, mate," said Ron. "Hermione was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore made us--"

"--swear not to tell me, yeah, Hermione's already said," Harry finished.

Feeling the sudden anger in Harry's voice and stance, I shifted my gaze from Hermione to my brother.

"Dumbledore seemed to think it was best," Hermione stated.

"Right." Harry's voice was now dripping with irritation. A part of me wished that I had stayed with the Malfoys.

"I think he thought you were safest with the Muggles--"

"Yeah?" Harry interrupted, raising his eyebrows. "Have either of you been attacked by dementors this summer?"

I looked over at Hermione, her eyes matching the fear I felt.

"Well, no, but that's why he's had people from the Order of the Phoenix tailing you all the time," Ron replied, rubbing his arm shyly.

"Didn't work that well, did it? Had to look after myself after all, didn't I?" Harry retorted, his volume increasing with every menacing word.

"Dumbledore was so angry," Hermione said in a feeble attempt to calm Harry down, "when he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary."

"Well, I'm glad he left," Harry said coldly. "If he hadn't, I wouldn't have done magic and Dumbledore would have left me at Privet Drive all summer."

"Harry!" I hissed. He ignored me.

"Aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?" Hermione asked quietly.

"No," Harry lied defiantly. "Why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark? Did you bother to ask him at all?"

"We told Dumbledore we wanted to tell you what's going on," said Ron. "He's just really busy now. We've only seen him twice since we came here and he didn't have much time, he just made us swear not to tell you important stuff when we wrote, he said the owls might be intercepted--"

"He still could have kept me informed if he'd wanted to," Harry said shortly. "You're not telling me he doesn't know ways to send messages without owls."

"Harry," I warned. "You need to calm down."

"Shut up, Y/n! You don't get to leave me for a year and then try to tell me what I need to do!" he shouted.

Taken aback, I felt tears welling in my eyes. Hermione noticed and shared a short look of sympathy before returning to my brother.

"Maybe Dumbledore thinks I can't be trusted," Harry said, edging the fight on with every sentence, every drop of poison from his tongue.

"Don't be thick," said Ron, looking highly disconcerted.

"So how come I have to stay at the Dursleys' while you two get to join in on everything that's going on here?" Harry said, the words tumbling over one another in a rush, his voice growing louder with every word. "How come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on?"

"We're not!" Ron interrupted. "Mum won't let us near the meetings, she says we're too young!"

"Big deal! You've still be here, haven't you? You've still been together. Me, I've been stuck at the Dursley's for a month! I've handled more than you two have ever managed, and Dumbledore knows that! Who saved the Philosopher's Stone? Who got rid of Tom Riddle? Who saved both of you from Dementors? What about last month, when I fought Voldemort and watched Cedric die?" Harry screeched. Hedwig flew off of his shoulder.

"Harry!" I shouted, finally having enough. "You do not get to act like this." I walked up to him, pointing at him square in his chest. "You did not do those things alone. Don't pretend that I wasn't there too, because I was! I might have been gone for what, a year? Whose fault was that? Yours! Because you weren't the friend I needed," I yelled, tears threatening to spill from my eyes.

Harry didn't speak, surprised that I was screaming.

"Stop screaming at Ron and Hermione! You can be angry at Dumbledore, but that does not mean that you get to take it out on our friends!"

Harry scowled, pure emotion shining clear in his expression. He opened the door to Hermione's room and walked out of it, slamming it shut.

As soon as the door hit the frame, my tears spilled over, dropping on my cheeks. Hermione carefully approached me, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. "Thank you for calming him down," she whispered.