Angelica tugged Harper closer to her chest as Fred asked in a confused voice "Jace? Who's Jace, and why is it bothering Harper?"

"I was so scared," Harper whispered, and she sounded disgusted with herself. "I just ran! What the hell was I thinking? How could I be so stupid?! He thinks I'm scared of him now!" by the time she finished talking she was practically yelling at herself. Angelica held her at arms length.

"Harper, that wasn't stupid-"

"But it was!" Harper said angrily, throwing off her friend's gentle touch. "I don't want him to think I'm going to let him push me around, but I just showed him that he can! Idiot!" she told herself, moving to smack her forehead with the palm of her hand. Fred grabbed her wrist just before she did and she glared at him. Her hair had changed from white to black and her eyes were icy blue as her anger overtook her.

"Get off!" she hissed, but Fred tightened his grip, grabbing her other wrist as well. She tried to shove him off but he was stronger than she was. Her impossibly blue eyes glared into his mischievous brown ones, but for once they looked serious. With a sharp exhale from her nose to show her irritation, Harper stopped struggling.

"Thank you," Fred said quietly. "Now, who is Jace?"

"It's none of your business," Harper said coldly. No one else needed to know about her past; even Angelica didn't know the entirety of what he'd done.

"He just sent one of my friends running as though she feared for her life!" Fred exclaimed. "I think George and I have some right to know!"

"We only just met a few days before the end of summer break," Harper said quietly. "I hardly even know who you are. How can I classify you as a friend?" Fred's jaw dropped, and Harper took advantage of his moment of shock to free herself.

"What happens to me is my concern and my concern alone," she said calmly. "If I choose to share it with you then I will, but right now I will deal with this on my own. Good night." And with that she went up the stairs to the dormitory.

"Sheesh," George murmured. "Independent much?" He turned to Angelica, who had sat on the couch and was braiding a small strand of her hair, a nervous habit she had developed once the stress of homework set in.

"Can you tell us anything?" George asked quietly, squatting by her feet to look up at her face. Fred was still having trouble closing his mouth at the complete rejection he had just faced, and was staring up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

"She won't tell me everything," Angelica said quietly. "Jace was her boyfriend last year and they seemed happy together, but after a while Harper started to look really stressed, flinching and jumping at anything and everything. I was suspicious, but she insisted everything was fine, that she was okay." She took a deep breath and plunged forward, and by now Fred was listening to the story as well.

"One day I noticed that she was late to lunch so I went to go find her. I was passing a closed classroom when I heard someone shouting, yelling at someone else to stop. It sounded pretty violent and I heard a crash as something shattered against the wall." Angelica continued on in a sort of daze, reliving the memory as she spoke.

"Jace, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please I know it was wrong-"Harper was forced to duck as another projectile was thrown at her head, smashing against the wall behind her. Neither she nor Jace noticed the door slowly being opened.

"Please, just stop," Harper begged her voice hoarse. "I swear I didn't tell-"

"THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP ASKING?" Jace roared, finally catching his elusive prey and lifting her up by the front of her shirt. He shook her forcefully before dropping her to the ground and running a hand angrily through his hair. In his fury he aimed a kick at her, and she curled around the spot he had hit with a gasp and a moan. He kicked her again, relishing in her helpless position.

"Hey!" called an indignant voice from the doorway. Jace looked up from Harper's struggling form and saw Angelica standing in the doorway. Her eyes held a mixture of shock, fear and anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Harper had managed to get on her hands and knees, and she wiped at a bloody nose with the back of her hand. "Angelica, don't," she croaked, and Jace smirked at her.

"Listen to her, Angelica," he said, "just go to lunch, Harper will be along in a moment."

"You're hurting her!" Angelica said furiously, taking a step forward. "Leave her alone!"

"Angelica, just go to lunch," Harper said, pushing herself to her feet. She gave her friend a crooked smile, showing a broken tooth that spilled a small amount of blood around her mouth and stained her teeth dirty red. "Look, I'm fine. I'll be there in a minute."

"You are NOT fine! Look at yourself!" Angelica exclaimed. Harper stopped smiling. "I'm a big girl, Angelica; I can take care of myself."

"Obviously not!"

Jace stepped threateningly towards her. "If you don't leave right now-"Harper threw herself in between them.

"Don't you dare hurt her," she growled. "I can take it myself, but you are not going to hurt my friends." Jace raised and eyebrow.

"Did I say you could defend her? Get out of the way!"

"No." Harper's voice was firm. Jace's eyes darkened with rage and he made as if to hit her but Angelica got there first. She darted around Harper and gave Jace a punch that caught him under the jaw and knocked him backwards. She grabbed Harper's hand and went for the door.

"Run!" she yelled.

"… When we got to the Great Hall she stopped and performed a few healing charms so that it looked as though nothing had happened. She thanked me, and then never mentioned it again until she met you to. She was scared, she didn't know if you guys would hurt her like Jace did."

Fred opened his mouth for an indignant reply. "George and I would never-"

"Yes, but she doesn't know that. She's afraid to get close to anyone nowadays, and when anyone tries she gets angry. She's really got quite a temper."

"Funny, I hadn't noticed." Angelica looked at the clock and stood. "Well, it's late, and we've got the first day of school tomorrow." The twins stood as well and made as if to go to their dormitories but Angelica caught their arms. "You can' tell her that you know," she said seriously. George smiled.

"We solemnly swear we won't tell."

"I'd hate to be us if Harper found out we knew," Fred added, and Angelica gave him a small smile. "G'night."

Harper ran a hand through her hair, stressed about the mountain of homework they had. They had been in school for a few weeks now, and she was already tired of the obnoxious amount of things they had to do. She needed a break.

She threw her books, quill, ink bottle, and half-finished essay into her bag and left the library. Her last period of the day was History of Magic; she would finish the essay and some other stuff then. Binns wouldn't even notice.

Not paying attention to where she was going, Harper ran smack bang into someone's chest. She stepped back, slightly stunned by the accidental impact of her nose into someone's chest.

"Sorry," she mumbled rubbing her nose and stepping around them. She didn't bother to check who it was, and didn't look back until they called after her.

"Aren't you even going to bother seeing who I am?" the voice was slightly amused. Harper looked back. Fred was giving her a wary sort of half grin, probably cautious after the whole how-do-I-know-you're-my-friend thing a couple weeks ago. She smiled back, and his grin became full.

"Hi Fred," she said, and Fred leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets. "Haven't seen you in a while. Where's George?" Fred pretended to look indignant.

"Am I not good enough for you?" he said, putting on a fake hurt expression. Harper rolled her eyes.

"I'm just not used to seeing you two separately," she said, "and as for you not being good enough I still hardly know you."

"You know me well enough to know I was Fred," he stated with a raised eyebrow. Harper shrugged.

"George doesn't talk to me, that's how I tell you apart. I really don't know you that well, which is kind of surprising," she mused. Fred gave her a confused look, so she explained. "You and George get a long really well with Peyton, Angelica, and London, so I'm around you a lot, I just don't know you." She turned to walk to class when Fred's voice stopped her again.

"We could get to know each other." Harper faced him with raised eyebrows. Fred rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he continued. "Not, like, romantically," he stammered, his ears turning red. Harper's eyebrows traveled further up her forehead. "Godric, I'm rubbish at this. Would you like to get a Butterbeer or something at the Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade weekend? As friends?"

"Just as friends?" Harper asked to clarify. Fred nodded.

"Yeah, just so we can get to know each other." Harper considered it for a moment and then nodded.

"Sure. We'll figure out the details later, alright? Class starts in a couple minutes; I'll have to run to get there."

"You don't have to," Fred offered, "I know some passageways throughout the castle, I could show you one." Harper swallowed and shook her head.

"I don't like small places. I'll be fine." And with that she sprinted off to History of Magic.

A/N: Well, there's another chapter down. I'm not super pleased with it, but please tell me what you think!

Thanks to potterphilosepher for their review!