Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Harry Potter.

Priya walked slowly down the hallway, holding her hand close to her chest. She was furious and humiliated. Malfoy had held good to his word and by the next day, Priya had a detention scheduled with Umbridge. As much as she had been prepared for Malfoy to tattle, she hadn't been prepared for that awful woman's idea of punishment. When she had shown up at the woman's office, Umbridge had given her this really creepy grin. Priya figured the woman was still reeling from having to deal with Fred and George's fabulous fireworks all day. After a five minute lecture about the importance of the 'Inquisitorial Boneheads' and how Priya was lucky she wasn't being stripped of her Prefect badge, Umbridge set a piece of parchment in front of her and instructed her to write lines 'until she got the point'. Priya hadn't understood the woman's little chuckle until she had started to write; that horrid woman had been laughing at her own twisted joke.

Was this allowed?

Was this what you could do when you had the Minister in your pocket?

Was this what everyone had been subjected to in their detentions with her?

Was this what Harry had to sit through, in all of those detentions he had gotten so far?

"Priya?" As if she had summoned him, Harry rounded a corner into the corridor she had been walking down. Honestly, with the D.A. demolished, Priya had suspected that she would never see Potter as often as she had, even with their classes crisscrossing. Fate seemed to have other plans tonight though. She quickly wiped away tears as he approached her, giving her a strained smile. "What are you doing out here?"

Priya looked around, realizing that she was as far away from the Ravenclaw tower as she could possibly be. . . . Come to think of it, this section was sort of a halfway point between her tower and his, which would explain how they ran into each other. "Oh, I . . . I just got done with detention."

"You?" Harry looked flabbergasted to say the least. "What did you do?"

"I threatened Malfoy," she explained, allowing herself a small smirk. "He called Eloise and Stella out of their names, took about fifty points from Ravenclaw. I told him I was going to knock him on his ass by the end of the year."

Harry snorted. "I'd like to see that. . . . Who was your detention with?"

"Who do you think?"

The smile slid from Harry's face and she saw him try to subtly shove his hands into his pockets. "What did she make you write?"

"'I must show respect'," Priya muttered, looking at the back of her left hand. The words were faint, not quite etched in but that wouldn't last long. She glanced up at Potter, who was watching her sympathetically. She swiped a hand over her eyes again when she felt the traitorous sting of tears. Priya wasn't a crier . . . at least not in front of people, not even her friends. "How many times did you have detention with her?"

Harry shook his head. "I lost count. . . . How many do you have?"

"The rest of the week." It was Wednesday. . . . By Friday, the words would be left on her skin permanently. Priya frowned at Harry, not taking her gaze off him, even when he shifted uncomfortably. "You were the first person to have to do this. Why did you never –?"

Priya trailed off, still watching him. Why didn't he tell? Why didn't he ask someone for help? Why did he always suffer silently? That last thought shook her a bit. She would never consider him a martyr; she still thought a lot of his troubles were self-inflicted . . . but he stepped up to teach them Defensive spells when no one else would. He took his detentions with Umbridge quietly, defiantly. He was willing to take the blame when the D.A. got caught. . . .

Who was this boy?

He gave her a lopsided smile, shrugging his shoulders. "Would it have made a difference?"

"No . . . I don't suppose it would have. . . . May I –?" Priya paused, but gestured to his hand. Harry hesitated as well but then he pulled his hand from his pocket and held it out for her to see. Gently, she wrapped the fingers of her uninjured hand around his, examining the words.

I must not tell lies.

The words were puckered, already healed. Harry shrugged again. "Hermione said you had a friend who was good at potions?"

Priya let go of his hand, trying not to let the shock show on her face. She was surprised he had remembered something like that. More than that, she was surprised he and Hermione had been discussing her. "She's brilliant, yeah."

"You should have her whip up a batch of murtlap essence. It'll help with the pain and the scabbing."

"Thank you. I'll ask her about it." The two of them exchanged a small smile and Priya took another moment to really look the boy over. It was late in the evening; had he had a detention somewhere as well? He looked upset, she realized, those green eyes of his sort of glazed over. She thought she might regret it, but she took a breath and asked, "Are – are you okay?"

"Me? Yeah . . . why?"

"You seem . . . melancholy. Did you have detention too?"

"Oh uh." Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "It was Remedial Potions with Snape."

"That sounds – disastrous."

"Something like that."

Silence fell over them again and Priya tilted her head. "Is that all?"

Harry met her gaze, looking a bit startled. She could see him hesitate before he sighed. "Have you – have you ever thought something about someone, only to find out it may be a lie?"

Priya blinked. "Is this a test?"

"What?" he asked with a astonished laugh. "No . . . unless – you haven't changed your mind about me, have you?"

"Not in the slightest," Priya responded, a little too quickly though she thought the slight lift at the corner of her mouth probably gave her away.

"Right." Potter grinned, looking a bit less troubled as he looked down at the ground. "It's just – my dad . . . I never knew him, obviously, and – and everyone's always made him out to be this great guy. . . . But, but what if he wasn't?"

"What did he do? If you don't mind me asking," Priya added as an afterthought.

"Oh." Harry paused again, casting a glance at her. "He was kind of a bully, is all. . . . Arrogant too."

"Was this when he was in school?"

She could tell by the look on his face that she surprised him again. "Yeah . . . but –"

"People are dumb in school," Priya muttered, thinking about Malfoy and the rest of his friends. "I think – I think we're supposed to be. School, especially a place like this, is where we learn who we are. We make friends, we laugh, we cry, we succeed, we fail, and we're dumb. . . . But that doesn't mean we stay dumb. Most of the time, who you are in school, isn't who you have to be when you leave. We learn from our mistakes, we see the ugly choices we've made and we, hopefully, try to fix them or make up for them. I think the people who told you your dad was great, probably knew him when he wasn't, but they watched him see those ugly choices and fix those mistakes. That's what makes people good. It's seeing the need to grow or change, and then doing it, not being stuck where you are."

Priya looked up at Harry, noticed that same look in his eyes from when she had been working on her Patronus, like he was seeing her first time. She frowned. "Did I – say something wrong?"

"No," he answered swiftly. "No, it's just – you're pretty smart, is all."

The Ravenclaw shrugged. "It's just what I think. . . . I'm sure Hermione or Weasley would have something more profound to say – or at least, Hermione would," she corrected, with a small smile.

"Heh, yeah maybe," he responded, looking away. "I should probably head to our Common room before they get worried."

"Right, me too." Neither of them moved right away though, Harry rocking back on his heels and Priya held her injured hand to her chest again. It was starting to throb again though in the ten minutes or so they had been talking, she hadn't felt it. "This is weird, isn't it."

Harry grinned. "A bit yeah."

"Murtlap essence, yes?" she confirmed.

"That's right."

"Right. . . . Good night Po – Harry," she said, with a nod.

Harry nodded back. "Good night, Priya. . . . Thanks for the advice."

Priya hummed her response and moved past him, heading for the stairs to take her back up to the seventh floor. On the third step, she stopped and looked back at him, watching him walk away.

What was that?

Shaking her head and passing it off as circumstance, she continued up the stairs.

If she had paused a moment longer, she would have saw Harry stop to look back at her too.

The ease of the Easter holiday came and went and the Summer Semester returned in full swing. By the end of the holidays, all fifth year students had been scheduled meetings with their Head of House, to discuss career options and what O.W.L's they would need in order to pass on to N.E.W.T level. Priya's meeting was scheduled for the next day, and she was incredibly nervous. The more she thought about it, the more she wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to do with her life. She knew for certain she didn't want to follow in the footsteps of her parents nor the more creative, musical footsteps of her grandmother. Her best friends seemed to have it all figured out. Guinn, of course, wanted to go on to be a Quidditch star, and she played well enough to do so, though her backup was a Magizoologist. Eloise was looking into being a Curse-breaker while Muni wanted to be a Healer (with a side job in fashion design) and Stella dreamed of a career in Muggle-Relations.

It wasn't that Priya hadn't thought about her career before. She knew she could get enough O.W.L's to, quite literally, pick what she wanted to do out of barrel but she didn't want just any old job. She wanted to love what she did and make a difference for someone. . . .

"HEY!" Priya shouted as she was jolted from her thoughts, someone knocking into her as they sprinted down the hallway. "No running!"

Of course, the student ignored her and continued down the hallway. Looking around, Priya realized that, while she had been daydreaming, a bunch of other students were running past as well. She should tell them to stop, activate her 'Prefect side' as Stella liked to call it. . . .

But honestly, did that even matter anymore?

Priya jogged alongside the other students until she got to the marble staircase leading down to the Great Hall. There was a throng of students standing around, making a giant ring around the members of the Inquistorial Squad and, at the center of it, Fred and George, whom were surrounded by murky greenish-grey water that resembled a swamp. Umbridge was standing just a few steps below Priya, hands on her hips, standing up as tall as she could while Filch looked up at her, looking close to tears, clutching a paper to his chest.

"It's a form for whipping," someone whispered to her. Priya glanced over at Harry, who she hadn't realized she had stopped next too. She thought it strange that he knew that, sort of wanted to know how but she didn't get the chance to ask.

"You two," Umbridge crowed at Fred and George, "are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."

"You know what?" Fred said. "I don't think we are. . . . George," He continued, turning to his twin, "I think we've outgrown full-time education."

"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself."

"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?"

"Definitely."

The two of them raised their wands and shouted, "Accio Brooms!"

There was a loud crash that made Priya jump and she gasped as Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders and yanked her down, just as two brooms swooped over their head, a heavy chain and iron peg trailing after them.

The twins grabbed their brooms and swung their legs over them.

Fred nodded at Umbridge. "We won't be seeing you."

"Yeah," George agreed. "Don't bother to keep in touch."

"If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three Diagon Alley – Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Our new premises!"

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat!"

"STOP THEM!" Umbridge hollered but Fred and George were already taking off, that iron peg dangling in the air.

Fred grinned at Peeves, who had been watching the whole affair in (surprisingly) quite awe. "Give her hell from us, Peeves."

Priya could help the surprised laugh that flew from her mouth as Peeves saluted the boys just before they flew out the open doors. Everyone was cheering and she applauded along with them. How long had it taken, she wondered, for her to like the Weasley twins? How long had it been before they stopped being the Weasley twins and became Fred and George? As it were, she was just now realizing that she had started to be able to tell them apart . . . and now they were gone.

She'd have to visit their shop.

"We should get out of here," Harry told her over the applause, "before she realizes we've been standing here the whole time and tries to blame this on us."

Priya looked down at Umbridge, who was still ranting and raving, trying to get the students to disperse. "You're probably right."

The two of them hurried back up the stairs, walking until the noise behind them started to dim. Priya laughed, shaking her head. "The two of them are anything but subtle."

Harry smiled. "You can say that again."

They continued down the hallway together. She could have split off and headed up the stairs, but she kept in step with Harry, who didn't seem inclined to go in a different direction either. She glanced up at him. "You seem in a better mood."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I, er . . . I talked to people who knew my dad back when they were all in school. . . . You were right – about people being stupid in school."

"Well, it does come from first-hand experience," Priya responded, clutching her hands in front of her. She knew she was implying that she meant herself. Every conversation, every moment spent with him, she was starting to see that she had been wrong in some ways. He may still be arrogant. He may still be reckless. . . . But he wasn't self-centered, he wasn't selfish and, by this point, it would be ridiculous of her to keep acting like he was. She still couldn't say they were friends . . . though it surprised her that he shared details about his life with her like he did. "Did you have your career consultation yet?"

Harry scoffed. "Yea, if you could call it that. Umbridge was there," he explained, when she looked up at him again. "When she found out I wanted to be an Auror, she and McGonagall practically had a duel right there."

"An Auror is an interesting choice for you," Priya murmured, frowning at the ground.

"Why do you say that?"

Priya turned her frown up at Potter. Was he serious? All that time, teaching them? Cheering them on? Smiling at their success? "I thought it would be obvious, you silly boy. You're going to be a teacher," she told him, poking him in the chest.

She turned back around and started walking away, stopping when she realized he wasn't walking with her. He was still standing where she had left him with his hand over the spot where she had poked him. "Are you coming?"

Harry started, hesitating before he smiled, lengthening his stride to catch up with her. They didn't talk as they continued down the hallway, but somehow . . . it was nice.

A/N: Sooooo Priya and Harry kind of took over in this chapter but I kind of like it. They are obviously becoming closer, though Priya still refuses to acknowledge him as a friend (of course). I hope you all liked it too! S/o to new reader: Erinmcc! Thank you!