Disclaimer: I do not own HP, JK Rowling is the author :D
Chapter 13: Losing You
Later in the week, Victoria got ready and left the common room with Lavender; passing by Harry without saying a word. She didn't care if she was the childish one here, she wanted him to apologize…
Lavender took note of the consistent silence between her and Harry, looking at Victoria a bit concerned about the situation. "Are you and Harry okay?"
"What makes you ask that?" She said, knowing full well why.
"Because you guys haven't spoken in days… it's odd. You two are normally snogging in the common room…"
Victoria rolled her eyes, "Yea. We're just fighting right now. It's not a big deal."
"Had he apologized yet?"
"Nope." The two turned into the dining room, taking their seats at the Gryffindor table.
"That's surprising… I would've thought he'd say it by now."
"Well I don't think I made matters much better between us." Victoria pointed out, grabbing a muffin.
"What do you mean?"
"I sort of left for a smoke, and came back with a Cormac."
Lavender looked around the table, leaning closer to Victoria. "Did you guys…" She whispered.
"Ugh… gross Lav, no. Never."
"Ah, then what's the problem?"
"I didn't clarify the situation, I just left." Victoria began picking at her muffin, eating it in small bites.
"Well, what if he thinks you guys did it? Don't you want to tell him?"
"I don't know, Lav. If he thinks so little of me that I'd shag other guys while with him, then that's his problem."
"That's true I guess. Are you nervous about tonight then?" Tonight was the night of the first D.A meeting in the room of requirement.
"No." Victoria shrugged, truthfully she was a bit nervous. She hated going this long without talking to Harry, she really missed him.
"You've got a rock exterior don't you?" She said laughing.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing breaks you, huh?"
Harry walked into the dining hall with Ron and Hermione; taking their seats not too far away from Victoria. She was just ready to get up and leave when she heard the sound of owl's flapping their wings above them, flying down to deliver their mail. Belle landed on top of Victoria's plate, flicking her beak up happily as she lifted her little foot of which the envelope was tied to. Victoria groaned, untying the envelope and opening it.
"Who's it from?" Lavender said, craning her neck to look at the letter.
"Probably from Elise…" She didn't sound too happy admitting that. Her eyes scanned the letter,
'I'm letting you know about my most recent checkup…. Nurse Hallsworth recommends I stay in bed for a while… I'm going back to Mungo's again later this week…'
Victoria folded the letter without finishing, and stuffed it back into her pocket.
"What's it about?"
"Another letter about her checkups." Victoria sighed. She had told Lavender about Elise's illness a few days after they'd gotten back.
"Don't you at least want to know how she's doing?"
"No, Lav I don't. However she's doing, it's nothing better than how she was." Victoria looked around for Belle, but she had hopped over to Harry who was caressing the top of her head. "Can we just go to class?"
"Yea, sure…" Lavender stuck a muffin in her mouth, as she packed her things and left the dining hall.
The two walked down the steep steps towards the edge of the forbidden forest, where their next class Care for Magical Creatures was being held… The wind was a bitter cold, there was light snow on the ground and ice covering the steps. Victoria held onto Lavender's arm as they descended the hill, slipping slightly from the ice underneath her black shoes.
"Fuck it's freezing." Victoria said, rubbing her arms for warmth.
"Why don't we have outdoor classes… inside?" Lavender whined, rubbing the sides of her face.
Professor Grubbly-Plank stepped out from behind the hut, dressed in many layers of scarfs, jackets, and hats… and she had a hand full of papers in her hand.
"Now, class listen please. Because of the weather, I've decided to cancel the activity I had planned for today… and instead just assign this test for you. You will complete it, hand it in, then you may leave."
"We're expected to complete a test in the bitter fucking cold? How uncomfortable." Lavender cried out.
Victoria walked up and grabbed two sheets of parchment for her and Lavender, then the two trailed to the side of the forest and sat down on a few rocks that weren't covered in snow.
"It's open book, at least it'll be easy…" Lavender said, taking her book out and opening to the page about Unicorns.
"What kind of strands are Unicorn hair? How am I to know?" Victoria said, her teeth clattering from the wind.
"If you came with me to pet the Unicorn that one day, you would know it's silver strand." Lavender said raising her eyebrow.
After answering the test questions with much of the books help, and Lavenders… they returned their tests to Professor Grubbly-Plank and began to head off back to the castle.
"That was brutal, I can't even feel my nose." Victoria said, crinkling it in hopes to feel it on her face.
"You're telling me, look at my hands… they're nearly purple!"
Suddenly a few students wearing Slytherin robes stepped out from behind a large stone pillar, their arms crossed looking down at the two.
"Well, haven't seen you in a while McKinnon." Draco said sending a cold gaze to her gray eyes.
"What do you want, Malfoy?"
"Just having a little chat, that's all."
"Yea? We'll I'm done chatting." Victoria trudged up the hill but Pansy Parkinson stepped in her area of direction, blocking her. "Here we go. No surprise Parkinson gets herself involved."
Pansy scowled, pulling out her wand from her jacket pocket and pointing it down at Victoria's stomach.
"Is that all you do? Result to pulling out your wand when someone makes an insult?"
"Vicki, let's go." Lavender said, pulling down on Victoria's jacket sleeve.
"Interesting Potter isn't here yet… In fact," Draco took a step closer to Victoria. "I haven't seen you two together for a while." He stated casually.
"Would you back up? I already have the displeasure of seeing your face around school. Isn't that torture enough?" Draco's lower lip quivered as his expression hardened. He clenched his fist and pushed it into Victoria's stomach, causing her to retract as she wrapped her arms just underneath her ribs. The corners of his lips quirked up as he took a step back.
"Don't think I've forgotten about what happened, McKinnon. You'll have it coming soon enough." He turned around, and the Slytherin group walked off towards the castle.
"Fuck, are you okay?" Lavender said, placing a hand on Victoria's back.
Victoria clutched at her gut, taking a deep breath to relieve the sharp pain that surged in her stomach. "Yea… I'll be fine." She said from the bottom of her throat.
Slowly they made their way up the stairs to the north tower for Divination. They were a bit late, mostly because they stopped twice so Victoria could rest her aching stomach. Professor Trelawney looked at them through her massive round spectacles, her arms in mid-air for she stopped her lessons while the girls walked to their seats.
"Sorry Professor, she had gotten sick on the way…" Lavender said, quickly helping Victoria to the back of the class where Luna was sitting. Harry stood up, which was uncalled for, for the class just stared at him awkwardly. Victoria looked at him, as she made her way up the stairs, her eyes drooping down to her feet as she eventually sat back down.
"That was weird…" Lavender said once they got settled in their seats. "Harry standing up like that…"
"Yea… Weird…" Victoria said under her breath as she looked at Harry. He now was furiously writing something on a piece of parchment, with Ron sitting beside him with his head resting on his hand.
She dove her face into her arms, she hated the way things were right now. She closed her eyes, zoning out Professor Trelawney as she drifted into a light sleep.
She could feel the heat surround her body; a feeling with no meaning… then suddenly she could see Elise's brightened face, her milky skin and long blonde hair as she opened her arms for a young Victoria running off the Hogwarts Express. She remembered the first time she'd received the guitar, and the first moment she played it in front of Mike's Music Shop. The picture of Marlene she'd received years ago, and the man she'd met so recently, who became a much bigger part of her than she could imagine.
"Vicki? Hey… Vicki."
Victoria quickly lifted her head from under her arms, looking around the room like an owl.
"Vicki, are you okay? Class is over." Lavender said, shaking Victoria's arm a bit.
"What?" She said wearily.
"Class is over… like ten minutes ago…" Lavender said, getting up from her seat and pushing it in. "Is your stomach bothering you again?"
Victoria looked around the classroom, it was empty… Professor Trelawney wasn't even present. "Did you wait for me?"
"Of course, I wasn't going to leave you snoozing in Divination." Lavender said laughing.
Victoria got up, stretching out her arms and throwing her books inside her bag. "Sorry, I guess I just drifted off."
"Harry stayed after for a few minutes, wanted to see what was wrong." The two began to walk out of the classroom and descend the steps.
"Did he?" She said in a toneless voice, but inside it made her feel a bit happy.
"Yea, but I told him to just go. I know you're upset with him right now, but I thought it was a nice gesture."
"Yea… it was." Victoria bit her lip, trying to suppress a grin.
XX
It was after dinner and Victoria was preparing herself to go to the first D.A meeting in the room of requirement. Lavender had already left with Ron earlier, who was accompanying Hermione and Harry to prepare for the groups arrival. Victoria slipped on her thigh-high stockings, flattened her Hogwarts skirt and put her long black wavy hair in a half-up fashion with her well used black ribbon. She took a deep breath, she couldn't deny she was nervous… Harry didn't necessarily want her there, and she was going anyways. She wondered if he'd start another scene like he had in the Hog's Head…
She left the Gryffindor Tower, bumping into Cormac on the way out of the portrait hole.
"Hey, you. Where are you going? It's past curfew." Cormac said, turning around to follow her.
"I'm uhm… I need to use the restroom." Victoria said, taking the stairs to the seventh floor.
Cormac looked at her suspiciously, "You're using the bathroom on the seventh floor, not the one in the tower?"
"Right, this one has tampons." She said, hoping it would gross him out but he followed her anyways.
"Okay, where are you really going?"
"Cormac, I can't tell you. I think it's best if you just go back to the dormitory." She said turning the corridor corner.
"I could do that… or I can just follow you…" He said, turning left with her. "I mean; it already seems like you're going to the room of requirement anyhow. What's in there?"
Victoria looked around, then pushed Cormac against the wall, her hands on his chest.
"Woah, there McKinnon."
Victoria rolled her eyes, "Sh, it's past curfew and you're being loud. Umbridge has people patrolling now, so you've got to be quiet…"
"Then where are you going?" Cormac said, allowing himself to be pressed up against.
Victoria lowered her hands awkwardly, composing herself. "You said you wanted to be an Auror, right?"
"Uh… yes?" He said confused, straightening his white dress shirt.
"Well, where I'm going it's like… training to be one almost."
"Er… what?" He looked completely lost now.
Victoria sighed, "Hermione created a group of which Harry will teach us defense magic, because Umbridge isn't doing shit for us this year."
"Harry teaching us, huh?" Cormac said with that familiar jealous tone he always had when he mentioned Harry.
"Right. Now that you know, you're coming." Victoria said, grabbing onto his wrist.
"I was going to come anyways, but since you think I'm resisting…" Cormac said smirking at her.
Victoria dropped his wrist and hurried for the room of requirement, where she did the same bit of writing her name down and dropping it in the fire. Hermione peaked her head out of the large tapestry.
"Victoria! And… Cormac? What is he doing here?" She whispered loudly.
"He followed me, so I told him about it…"
"I would've followed her all the way here anyways, Granger." Cormac said.
Hermione looked at the two, then opened the door for them to get in. "Hurry then!"
The room was large, with the bright blue moonlight shining inside the windows of the room. There were practicing dummies surrounding the walls, cushions, tables…
"You have to sign this Cormac." Hermione said, giving him a sheet of paper. He signed the paper and continued walking forward with Victoria.
They walked over to the large group of people standing together, with Harry and Ron facing the group. Harry looked up once Hermione shut the door, and his eye's locked with Victoria's. She could feel her heart pounding as he noticed Cormac standing beside her, looking around the room astonished. Harry didn't seem too pleased at all…
"Right, this is our first D.A meeting… It seems that everybody is here… which is good…" Hermione said, standing beside Harry now.
"What are we to learn first?" Seamus asked.
"Erm… well… I suppose we can start off with the basics."
"Basics?" Ernest asked, "Isn't that easy enough?"
"Well… how many can actually perform a disarming charm?" Nearly every-body's hand rose, including Victoria's. "Is that so? Cormac, come demonstrate for us will you?" Victoria looked over at Cormac who dropped his hand and wobbled over towards Harry. She pressed her hand against her forehead, knowing full well what Harry's intentions were.
"Right, wand at the ready then." Harry said, taking a stance with his wand out at Cormac. Cormac stood there naturally, his wand pointing at Harry. "1…2…3"
"Expel-"
"Stupefy"
Harry's wand created a dark red spark that shot at Cormac's chest, pushing him back a few feet till he landed against a practice dummy. Harry straightened his back, putting his wand back in the band of his jeans and grinning up at the group. "Looks like not all of us know how… so that's what we will practice first."
Victoria looked over at Cormac who was rubbing the back of his head, standing back up and trudging back to Victoria. "Are you okay?" She said.
"Yea, I'm fine. I just uh… my wand slipped." Victoria quirked an eyebrow.
"Get into groups of two then, and practice on each-other. I'll go around and see how you're doing then." Harry said, and on that note, everybody began breaking off into pairs.
"Want to be my partner?" Cormac asked.
"Erm…" Victoria looked back at Harry who was talking with Neville Longbottom. "Sure."
"I'll go easy on you." Cormac said, lazily pointing his wand at Victoria. She narrowed her eyes, feeling a bit insulted.
"Right, you do that." She said, getting into stance and pointing her wand at him. "Ready?"
"Stupe-"
"Expelliarmus!"
Cormac's wand shot out of his hand and tumbled a few inches away from his feet. "Ah, I guess I went a bit too easy huh?"
Victoria smirked triumphantly. "Would you like to go again?"
"Yea…" He said picking up his wand. "I'll disarm you."
"Right. 1…2…"
"Expell-"
"Stupefy!"
Cormac was once again pushed back a few feet, slamming his head in a cabinet by the wall. Victoria widened her eyes, hurrying over to him. She kneeled down, "Shit, are you okay? I'm so sorry."
Cormac rubbed the back of his blonde hair, his cheeks flushed. "Yea… I'm fine."
Victoria helped him off the ground as he brushed the dust from his black pants. "You're good, McKinnon." He said embarrassedly. "Would you ugh… teach me?"
Victoria found this a bit amusing to hear, but nevertheless she agreed. "Yea, here… you need to stand like this…" She said, getting into her stance. "You can't just lazily point your wand out like that, you have to mean it… every spell you want to conjure, you have to mean it."
"Like this?" He said, fixing his stance posture.
"Right, feet a little back." She said, bending down to fix his leg and foot stance. "Perfect."
"I'll let you disarm me, so you get the gist of it." She said standing before him. "Go ahead."
"Expelliarmus!" Victoria's wand flicked out of her hand and landed just in front of her feet.
"Very good! Put more meaning into it though… If you were against a death eater, you wouldn't want them to have their wand, yea? So pretend I'm that death eater." She said picking up her wand. "Try again."
"Expelliarmus!" Victoria's wand flicked in the air and rolled by Cormac's feet. She looked at him impressed, reaching for her wand that Cormac picked up.
"Was that good?"
"Brilliant!" She said sincerely.
"I see Victoria's teaching you McLaggen?" Harry said as he strolled over to the two.
Victoria took a step back from Cormac, looking down at her feet.
"Yea, she's a good teacher." He said conjuring a half grin.
"Is that so?" Victoria could feel Harry's eyes on her. "I suppose we should pair you with someone of your skill level then. Neville!" Victoria looked up and noticed Neville Longbottom making his way over to them.
"Yea, Harry?" He said nervously.
"Could you practice with McLaggen for a bit? He hasn't got a partner to properly train with."
"Uhm… sure." Neville took Victoria's spot as she shifted away from the two.
"What the fuck was that?" Victoria whispered to Harry.
"What do you mean?"
"You know full well what I mean." Victoria said placing her hands on her hips.
"I simply exchanged partners to what makes sense with his skill level." Harry said beginning to walk around the groups and checking them out; Victoria followed closely behind.
"I was teaching him… he was getting better."
"Was he?" Harry said, sounding disinterested.
"Isn't that the point of this, to get better at defensive magic?"
"I doubt he was paying much attention to your teachings anyways, and more on what you're wearing." Harry said suggestively.
Victoria gave a mirthless laugh as she screwed up her face in anger. "Excuse me? There is nothing suggestive about what I'm wearing."
He turned to her, their bodies just inches from each other at the abrupt change in pace. His emerald green eyes looking directly into hers. "Maybe not, but I'm a guy, and what I'm looking at I'm pretty positive he is looking at too." He said protectively.
Victoria let out a harsh breath, giving up on the argument. "Who am I to practice with then?"
"I don't know; we don't have enough people for pairs…"
"You want to get rid of me that badly, huh?"
"No, Victoria. I don't want to get rid of you, I want you to stay out of danger."
"What happened to the man in the beginning of the year who yelled at Umbridge for not teaching us defensive magic because Lord Voldemort was back?" Harry ran his fingers through his hair, continuing his cycle of walking around the room… Victoria following again. "You're going against everything you said."
"No I'm not. I'm here aren't I? Teaching like what? 25 people?" Harry said craning his neck over at Lavender and Ron.
"Yes, but you're excluding me!"
"I don't want to argue with you anymore, Victoria. You've heard my piece."
"Fine, you be my partner then."
"What? No. That only seals your stay here."
"My stay here was 'sealed' when I signed that bloody paper, so why don't you just be my partner." Victoria said stopping in her place.
Harry looked at her, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine. I'll be your partner. This doesn't mean I'm okay with any of this though."
Victoria grinned, "I'm not asking you to be okay with it, just to be my partner."
Harry got into stance, Victoria just the same. "I can't be practicing with you the entire time though; I've got to look at the other groups too."
"That's fine."
Victoria pointed her wand at Harry, Harry pointed his at her. "I never thought I'd have my wand out on you." Harry said.
"I bet you never thought I'd disarm you either."
"We'll see about that." He said with an amused grin.
"1…2…3"
"Stupefy!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry's wand flicked out of his hand as Victoria's body lunged backward, her back slamming into a nearby practice dummy.
"Shit, are you okay?" Harry said, hurrying to Victoria to help her up.
A smile played across her face as she picked up her wand from beside her. "I'm completely fine, Harry… I disarmed you though."
"That you did, McKinnon. Good job." He said reaching his hand out for her. She grabbed onto his hand, she hadn't felt his touch in a while.
"You forgot your wand." She said.
Harry turned back for his wand, stuffing it back in his jeans waist band. "You're my first priority."
"I'm fine, Harry…"
Hermione walked over towards Harry, her frizzy brown hair puffed out over her shoulders. "Harry, we should wrap this up. It's getting late."
"Right. Hey! Guys! We're going to wrap up today's lesson okay." Harry announced. The group moaned in disappointment. "I know, sorry- but it's getting late and Umbridge has started patrols. We should get going now, and we can meet back again later in the week. Hermione will notify you the same way…"
People began to line up at the door, a few people at a time leaving so they wouldn't be caught in large groups… Victoria joined them.
"Ready to leave?" Cormac suggested as they were next in line by the door.
Victoria looked back… she noticed Cho talking to Harry, then giving him a light hug around the neck shortly before she waved him off. She didn't notice it till Cormac tapped Victoria on the shoulder, but she was clenching her fists tightly that her nails were digging into the surface of her skin. "Vic?"
"Huh? Yea… okay, let's go."
XX
The next day in potions, the class had to create another potion using Pearl Dust. Victoria opened the book and prepared the cauldron, while Lavender grabbed the ingredients. They decided to recreate a lesser version of the Love Potion… with less effect.
Lavender looked well done today, she had her long curly strawberry blonde hair up in a bun, pink eyeshadow and black liner in the top of her eyes. She wore a confident smile on her face… along with blush.
"You look hot today, who're you impressing?" Victoria said cracking some sea eggs on the table.
"Ron-Ron and I have a date today!" She shrieked excitedly.
"Ron-Ron?" Victoria laughed.
"What? You don't have a nickname for Harry?" Victoria's smile dropped. "Sorry, I forgot. I don't quite understand what has happened between you two."
"Me neither, Lav." Victoria spilled the insides of the egg into the cauldron, creating a sizzling sound.
"Did you like the meeting last night? Pretty fun right?" Lavender said smiling as she began drizzling a thick syrup into the cauldron and mixing it.
"I suppose so… Harry got all upset I was partnered with Cormac."
"Yea? I can see that. Cormac has a weird thing for you… He also always sounds jealous of Harry, don't you think?" Lavender pointed out.
Victoria shrugged, "I suppose so…"
"If it makes you feel any better…" Lavender said, sprinkling the pearl dust into the cauldron. "Ron told me Harry has been upset lately. Like he doesn't talk much…"
Victoria didn't answer… she didn't know what to say.
"Do you love him, Vicki?"
"Lav… Why are you asking me this now?"
Lavender tilted her head, spooning the potion into a tube. "I've never seen you act like this before. Normally you let boys blow past your shoulder if these things happen."
"I can't let Harry blow past my shoulder."
"Exactly."
"I don't know Lav, maybe? I really don't know." Victoria lowered her head, cupping her hands in her lap. It's something she'd though about before, but never concluded. She didn't know what love felt like, but maybe it was safe to assume it's what she had for him. "I mean… do you love Ron?"
"No." She said flatly. This caught Victoria by surprise… all the times she'd dreamily stare at him, talk about him… hang onto his arm… it almost seemed like she'd be the type of girl to fall head over heels for him the first day they'd decided to be a 'thing'. "I like him… a lot. Love though? That's such a strong feeling." She said, hanging the tube of pink sparkling substance up to her glass eyes. "Maybe over time… I think you can only love someone, when you've realized they're the one for you. Otherwise it's just a crush, you know?"
"I guess that makes sense."
Lavender smiled, "I'll bring this up to Professor Snape and we can head out."
"Okay." Lavender walked off to the front of the classroom, and Victoria cleared the cauldron and the ingredients off the table. The two packed their things and walked over to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Victoria slumped down in her seat, taking out her book… ready for another uneventful class.
Students began to pool in, groaning in agony that they had to be in this class as they sat down. Professor Umbridge sat in the desk at the front of the classroom, writing on some parchment- waiting for the class to be seated. Once the class took their seats, Professor Umbridge cleared her throat and stood up.
"Today, you will read chapter 23." She said, smiling down at the class.
Everybody began to flip the pages of their books, then the room went dead silent as everybody began reading… everybody… but one. Victoria looked over her book to the front of the classroom, where Hermione was sitting.
She had her hands in her lap, no book out in front of her, staring at the front of the classroom. Professor Umbridge strolled over to her desk, looking down at her. "Miss…"
"Granger."
"Miss Granger…" She said, twitching the side of her head. "Why are you not participating in the reading for this class?"
"Well, you see Professor… I've read it."
Students began to look up at Hermione now.
"You've… read it?"
"Correct, Professor."
The class began to mutter in talk which clearly annoyed Professor Umbridge as her lips flattened in a hardline.
"If you have read the book as you claim… What is chapter 54 about?"
"The childhood of the creator of the disarming charms." She said quickly.
"72?"
"How defensive magic can be bad for health."
The class began whispering again… Victoria looked over at Hermione who wasn't fazed at all by this.
"Detention, Miss Granger."
"Sorry?"
"Detention. You're disrupting my class, and being awfully disrespectful-"
"That doesn't make any sense professor, you can't do that." Harry said standing up from his seat.
"Excuse me, Mr Potter… but this doesn't concern you." She said narrowing her eyes down at him.
"You're right, it doesn't. None of this concerns me, for I'm not learning shit in this class anyways."
Victoria widened her eyes, holy shit he just swore to a teacher.
Umbridge's jaw clenched as she whacked her wand against the wooden desk top of Neville Longbottom's, causing him to flinch back nervously.
"Detention for you then too Potter, clearly disrespecting a teacher who is trying to educate you on the means of defensive magic-"
"That's a joke." Victoria said, standing up from her seat.
Lavender's jaw unhinged, as she pulled on Victoria's arm to sit down.
"Who are you?" Professor Umbridge asked, walking over to Victoria's desk.
"Victoria McKinnon."
"You think this class is a joke to you?"
Victoria looked around the room, it seemed like all the student's eyes were on her… even Harry's, though his looked a hundred times more shocked than anyone else's.
"Er… Yea… Yea I do." She said clearing the lump in her throat. She never imagined she'd be standing up against a professor like this before… not even fighting with Snape felt this motivated. "You aren't teaching us anything in this class, you're telling us to read books that have nothing to do with how to use defensive magic… on top of that… how are we to succeed on our O.W. L's if we don't even know how to properly use the spell?"
Professor Umbridge's eyebrows bumped into a scowl, "If that's what you think, you can take Miss Granger's detention then. I will see you and Potter in my office after class. Now sit down, both of you… and read Chapter 23."
Victoria slithered back into her chair; she could hear the Slytherin's laughing at her from the back of the room.
"Holy fuck Victoria… what have you done?" Lavender whispered as she held the book up to her mouth to be discrete.
"I have no fucking idea. It was completely sporadic." Victoria looked beside her, Harry was shaking his head before stuffing his face back in the pages of the books.
Victoria lazily read some of the lines in the text, not really caring about it at all till finally the class bell rang and students hurriedly got out of the seats and exited the classroom… one of which was Harry.
She threw her book down in her bag and heaved it over her shoulder, releasing a heavy sigh knowing she had to go to Professor Umbridge's office now.
"Are you okay? Are you going to be okay? She's harsh with her punishments, Vic…" Lavender said hurrying beside her as Victoria exited the class for the office.
"I'll be fine. I'm sure of it." Victoria said, as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Talk to me afterwards, tell me how it went." Lavender said giving her a hug before going the opposite direction.
Victoria ascended the steps till she reached the corridor of which Umbridge's office was. She walked slowly over to the door till suddenly she was pushed into a small alcove in the hallway.
"Holy fuck!" She said, rubbing her shoulder.
"I could say the fucking same." Harry said, rubbing her shoulder feeling a bit bad he hurt her.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"Again, I could say the same."
"Okay, you've lost me." Victoria said, completely pressed against the wall.
"Why did you do that? Why did you stand up to Umbridge like that?" Harry said, with gimlet eyes.
"Because? I wasn't going to let her talk to Hermione and you like that… she deserved to know the truth anyways. No-one takes her fucking class seriously."
"And what good does it do? To tell her that? It won't stop her from what she's doing!"
"Why are you telling me this, when you did the exact fucking same?" She said pressing her eyebrows together.
"Because… I'm fucking… I don't know why okay? But you can't be here… I can't believe you put yourself in this position, McKinnon."
"Holy shit you're mental. It's not like she's going to smack me around for detention."
Harry gave her a long stare, his eyes nearly glistening with fear. "Victoria… she's not a good person. I… I told you this before, in the beginning of the fucking year that I didn't want you EVER to have to come here. She doesn't just assign cleaning jobs…"
"She did for Lavender?"
"Because she wasn't anyone special to her. You're associate with me, Victoria. You stood up for me. Whatever I'm getting, I bet you will too… and I'm not going to let that happen. Why do you think I stood up for Hermione?"
Victoria felt taken back by the entire conversation… nothing made sense to her and she felt he was taking this a bit too far. "I don't understand why you're so concerned. You're never concerned on how I feel when you keep a thousand and one secrets from me?"
"What?"
"Yea, I'm sick of you always keeping shit from me. I want to know the truth about you, Harry. You tell Hermione and Ron; why don't you tell me? Who keeps secrets from someone they care about?" She said, arguing off memory from what Cormac told her.
"Because I fucking care about you, that's why. Whatever I hold from you, is because it's too dangerous for you to know." Harry yelled, ruffing up his hair angrily trying to keep himself together.
"Yes… I've got to go now; I've got to give out detentions to a few mismates in class." Professor Umbridge said from afar.
"She's here, let me go." Victoria said, trying to pass by Harry.
He stepped in front of her, "I'm not letting this happen, and you better let THAT happen." He gave an unrelenting stare.
Victoria brushed past him and Harry followed. Professor Umbridge appeared, wearing her bright pink cardigan and skirt, with her brown hair pinned up in an odd fashion.
"Ah, there you are. Right in here." She said unlocking her office and letting the two inside.
Victoria stepped inside, and wow was she surprised to see this. The room was covered in… cats? Cat pictures lined the wall meowing in all different pitches… the room was also pink… very pink…
"Have a seat." Umbridge said, gesturing to the two comfortable chairs as she sat in her own behind the desk.
Victoria and Harry took their seats on the cushion covered chairs facing her desk. She squirmed around trying to get comfortable.
"You both know why you're here… speaking out in class, something you know very well not to do, Mr. Potter." She said glancing at him.
He looked antsy on his feet, shaking his leg… Victoria put her hand on it, which immediately stopped his movement.
"Now, for your punishment… This is something Mr. Potter also knows well about…" She said giving a malicious high-pitched laugh.
"For you Ms. McKinnon, if you can take a piece of parchment out."
Victoria looked at her, then took the parchment out and flattened it out on the desk. Harry straightened himself out, watching the two attentively.
"Would you like me to… write something Professor?" Victoria asked, grabbing a quill from her bag.
"Yes, but you won't be needing your quill, I have a special one for this." She said, handing Victoria a quill of her own.
Harry grabbed the parchment from underneath the quill and stood up, crumpling it and throwing it on the ground.
"Mr. Potter…"
"She can't be here." He said.
"Harry?" Victoria's eyes widened.
"Sorry?" Professor Umbridge looked shocked.
"I uhm… I brain washed her." Victoria's face went blank, she had no idea what to think of that. "I forced her to believe in what I've been talking about with you-know-who, so what she said was my fault and I'll take full responsibility."
"Wait a minute… that's not true-"
"Shut up, Victoria. It is true, it's all true. Sorry for lying to you Victoria, Whatever I said about you-know-who to you… it was… a lie."
A silence dragged on after that… Harry stood there, his fists clenched; Victoria's jaw hanging open and Umbridge looking completely and utterly amused.
"How very… interesting." She said, forming a temple with her fingers on the desk. "I see you've finally admitted it, Mr. Potter… For that I believe we can make an arrangement then." Harry sat back down.
"Wait a minute…" Harry kicked his foot over to Victoria's, signalling her to stop talking.
"I suppose… Victoria can clean the trophy case for Mr. Filch, and I can decrease your stay here in detention Mr. Potter; for finally seeing it our way- the Ministry's way."
"I completely understand." He said, lowering his head.
"Alright… Parchment out Mr. Potter… you, Ms. McKinnon… will go to the trophy room with this set of cleaning supplies," She pointed to a box of cleaning supplies on top of chair by her office door. "And clean the trophy case, come back when you're finished."
"I… but…" She looked over at Harry, then at the cleaning supplies. "Okay." She grabbed the cleaning supplies, and exited the office, watching Harry grab the quill and begin writing on the parchment… then the door closed between them.
Victoria descended the steps to the first floor where the trophy case was kept. She kneeled down on the hard floor, her knees aching from the uncomfortable position and began scrubbing the glass on the outside of the case.
"You missed a spot, McKinnon."
Victoria turned her head and noticed Pansy walking past her with Draco… she flicked her wand and a bunch of blue goop appeared on the case. They laughed as they walked away…
Victoria clenched her jaw and sprayed some more muggle cleaning supplies and began cleaning the goop up. She opened the case and began to spray inside that as well, though she noticed something in particular that caught her eye. She glanced over and looked at the golden plaque that had Harry's father's name on it; 'James Potter.' She smiled uncontrollably. She put a bit of cleaner on the rag and began to polish over James Potter's name. She didn't finish until it was completely shining that she finally moved on to the next plaque.
It felt like hours… but she'd finally finished. She stood up, rubbing her aching knees and cleared the goop off the side of her face that just smudged instead down her cheeks… She closed the case doors and picked up the cleaning supplies box.
She took a heavy breath, and began to heave the supplies back over to Umbridge's office.
Victoria knocked on the door of the office. "Come in!" She opened up the door, placing the supplies back on the chair it was sitting on. "I've finished Professor." She said, standing in the door way. She looked around the room, Harry wasn't there…
"Good, you can head back to your dormitory now… it is late." Professor Umbridge said, smiling.
"Right. Okay." She closed the door and hurried back to the dormitory.
On her way back she noticed a boy sitting on a few steps down the corridor by the Gryffindor Tower. She walked over, noticing it was Harry who was hunched over, rubbing his hands.
"Harry?"
He looked back, pulling down his sleeve.
"What?"
She thought that was an interesting way to respond… "What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"What are you hiding?"
"I'm not hiding anything." Harry sat up, trying to walk off but Victoria grabbed his arm.
"Will you stop fucking lying to me! For once!"
"None of this concerns you." He said, pulling his arm out of her grip.
"Holy shit, you're so difficult Harry Potter… and what was that… in there? Why'd you tell her you brain washed me?"
"Because I told you, I wasn't going to let you get detention with her."
"I still got detention! I cleaned just like I fucking knew she'd have me do."
Harry looked down at her, "You have no idea."
"Then tell me so I have an idea!"
"No. Look, Victoria- I'm sorry I have things I don't want to tell you, but I also have a preference to protect those I care about-"
"So you're willing to lose me, over some stupid secrets?"
"Lose you?" Harry froze down at her.
Victoria nodded slowly, her eyes went glossy as she bit her trembling lip. "Yea, if you can't be honest with me, then I don't see this working out any further." Her inner-self was screaming at her in disapproval.
He pressed his lips in a thin line, the colour draining from his face. A silence between them came and went as he parted his lips trying to speak, but nothing came out.
Victoria shook her head, "Fine. Okay. Fuck you, Harry." She shoved past his shoulder, going the opposite direction of the Gryffindor Tower with her face in her arm as she streamed tears down her cheeks.
Hurrying up the stairs, trying to washout the sounds of her distress she opened up the door to the Astronomy Tower. She leaned against the balcony, grabbing her pack from her bag and carelessly placed the cigarette in her mouth, lighting it.
She inhaled deeply, clearing a tear on her cheek and exhaled roughly. She'd never felt a burst of vexation before, she thought he was being unreasonable… unfair… she looked up, out onto the grounds parting her lips and cursing loudly into the night sky.
"Is that what you normally do?"
Victoria looked back, taken by surprise by the sudden company. Cormac walked over and leaned on the balcony beside her.
"Smoke or yell fuck to the sky?" She said, rubbing her puffy reddened eyes and taking another puff of her smoke.
"Whichever one you'd rather talk about." He said, sitting down on the bench behind him.
"What are you doing up here anyways?" Victoria asked, looking down at the forbidden forest.
"I saw you crying as I left the Library." Cormac said.
"So you followed me?" Victoria laughed under her breath.
"I guess I care to why you're upset."
Victoria looked back, gazing at him sitting on the bench. She walked over and sat beside him. "Okay, I'll bite." She said, taking another drag.
"Is this about Harry again?"
"I suppose that wasn't hard to figure out." She said grinning hopelessly.
"Want to tell me what happened?"
"Not really."
"Can I safely assume what happened?" He said resting his arm on the back of the bench around her.
"You sure can." She said cracking her voice.
"Hey, It'll be okay." Cormac said, moving himself closer to her. "Maybe he wasn't the one for you. Sometimes that happens."
"Yea?" Victoria said, dropping her cigarette on the cement.
"Yea. When I broke up with my ex Katie Bell a while back, I thought we'd be together for a long time you know?"
"What happened?"
"She was flirting with other guys and… well you know. She wasn't into the commitment stuff." Victoria never saw Cormac as the commitment type either… "So we broke up. I was upset at first, but then I met someone else."
Victoria raised an eyebrow, "Did you now?"
"Yea." He rolled his shoulders and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. "We bumped into each-other earlier in the year."
"Oh? Is she in Gryffindor too?"
"Yea, she is." Victoria nodded, the situation was getting a bit awkward.
Victoria patted her hands down on her skirt, rubbing her knees that still ached her. "Well…" She said getting ready to get off the bench. "I guess I've got to get going… I'll see you-"
Suddenly Victoria could speak no words, her eyes gaping as Cormac leaned in and placed his lips on hers. It took a moment to realize the situation, and when she did she jerked herself away, quickly standing on her feet.
"Holy shit." Victoria said, her hands out in front of her, looking completely stunned at him. "Did you just…"
"Sorry, did you not?" He said standing up with her.
She took a few steps back, trying to analyze the situation. "Sorry, did I… did I like… send the wrong message or something?"
"I… Er…" He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing red with embarrassment.
"I'll… talk to you later…" She said, grabbing her bag and exiting the astronomy tower.
Victoria walked through the portrait hole, clearing away her lips… more like scrubbing them countless times on her sleeve. She looked up, frozen at the sight of Harry, Hermione, and Ron kneeling down by the fire.
"Victoria!" Hermione said, standing up and swaying in front of the fire. "Where have you been?"
Victoria looked over at Harry, clearing her lips one last time. He had an emotionless expression on his face.
"I… uhm…" She couldn't find the words to describe where she had been exactly… she didn't even fully analyze what just happened.
"It's fine. You should get to bed." Hermione said quickly. "Next D.A is during the holiday…"
"Okay. Goodnight…" Victoria hurried off to the dormitory clearing her lips subconsciously and lunging onto her bed. If there was a day she could rewind, it would be this one.
A/N: Thank you for the Reviews / Support on the story guys! :)