[AN: I am so sorry I haven't been updating as frequently. I am a failure. Ugh! Just remember that I love you and here is a nice long chapter to make up for it and I've already gotten to work on the next one so no worries!]

Tuesday I was dreading class at Hogwarts and Snape wasn't making me feel any better about it.

"You want me to read through and grade eight essays about potion theory in regards to the polyjuice potion in a week?" I asked. He nodded. "You do realize I have a one-year-old at home?" Snape nodded again. "Is this because I keep calling you Snape-A-Doodle?"

"I don't have time to debate the issue with you, Potter," he said. I sighed.

"You are trying to make me crazy, Snape," I said. "But I will oblige. But I shouldn't."

"Why?" he asked.

"I haven't gotten your RSVP back for my wedding yet. I'm sure you know that I would be incredibly offended if you didn't show up," I said.

"Really?" he asked.

"You only just raised me, Snape," I said. "Of course I want you there. So you'd better owl me back. Don't make me drag you there."

Snape sighed and the classroom door opened. Andy walked inside, and paused when she saw me. We stared at each other for a moment before she took her seat. Then Draco and Pansy walked in.

"Hey, Hannah, how's your wedding planning going?" Pansy asked, throwing a glance to Andy who rolled her eyes in response.

"Stop being a troll, Pansy," Draco said. Pansy smirked as she took her seat.

The rest of the class slowly piled inside. Snape started class with his usual overview of the lesson before handing it over to me to announce the not fun stuff.

"As I'm sure you are aware, your NEWTs are fast approaching. They're not called the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test for no reason. It is the hardest test you will ever take in your life and potions, unless you're taking alchemy or ancient runes, will definitely be the most difficult subject. You're not only going to be tested on your ability to make potions and know what ingredients go where, but you will also have to know a lot about the theories and mechanics behind potions to know why they work like they do," I said. "This being the case, due to me one week from today will be an essay about potions theory in regards to the polyjuice potion."

"But that potion isn't even taught on the ordinary Wizarding level," Jill pointed out.

"Yes, but, if I promise you that a 12-year-old could make that potion," I said. Hermione giggled. "If you're able to successfully break down the polyjuice potion, you won't be killing yourself studying for the NEWTs because it will show that you've got a proper grasp on it already."

"And if we can't?" Andy asked.

". . . Then I'll do my best to make myself available to you as a tutor," I said. She rolled her eyes at me. "It needs to be six and a half feet of parchment-."

"Six and a half feet?" Ginny asked. "Who set the parameters for this assignment, Satan?"

"Yes, Weasley. Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said from his desk.

"I know it's going to be tough, especially since this weekend most of you will be going on the field trip, but I'll be chaperoning and I'll be holding a special study session in the prefects cabin for anyone who's interested in working on it on the way to London that morning," I said.

"That's how I want to spend a field trip, doing homework," Natalia said.

"Don't be such a Negative Nancy, Natalia. If you would rather spend a nine hour train ride doing absolutely nothing, be my guest," I said. "I'm just letting you know there are resources available to you should you like to make use of them."

888

"Oh, but I hate giving speeches," I whined.

"You're in the wrong line of work if you don't want to talk to people," McGonagall said. I was sitting in her office at Hogwarts with a ministry official, Rebecca River, who had been on the run with Tonks' father and Dean last year. She was in charge of planning the dedication of the memorial in May.

After Lucius had asked me to help back at Christmas I was more than happy to help. Little did I know I was going to be more involved than just shuttling plans back and forth between Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.

"You're Hannah Potter. You and your brother were like the symbols of the rebellion. You won us the war. It's only because of you that Voldemort was defeated," Rebecca explained. "If you don't speak at the memorial's dedication, why. . . I don't know. That kind of thing is just unheard of."

"I dunno. I'm really doing my best to fly under the radar about all of it," I said.

"You haven't spoken to the papers about your experience last year. You haven't so much as commented on anything and people, especially a year later now that sense of normalcy has finally fallen, they will want to hear your side of it," Rebecca said. "Obviously there are other people I'll be contacting as well, giving personal testimony about that year, but. . . It's really you they'll want to hear from."

". . . I don't really like talking about it seriously. I still have nightmares. Sometimes I don't sleep at all," I said.

"Well, obviously we won't force you to do anything you don't want to do, but I'm sure it would mean a lot to everyone if you changed your mind," Rebecca said.

"I'll think about it," I said. "In the mean time I haven't actually seen the plans for the actual memorial yet and everyone tells me they're quite lovely."

"Oh! Right, yes," Rebecca said fumbling through her bag. She reached in and pulled out a roll of parchment. She sat it out on McGonagall's desk and it rolled open. It showed sketches of a long wall, perched atop it was a phoenix. "And we'll have the names of all of the victims of this war—even the muggles. We want no one to be forgotten."

"I like it," I said. "Actually, I more than like it. I love it. It's perfect."

888

I left McGonagall's office and started toward Gryffindor Tower. Much to my dismay, I ran into Andy, exiting the library. We both stopped dead in our tracks when we saw each other. We stared each other down, letting our hatred for each other pour over the other.

She spoke first. "Didn't know you were still here."

"Well, I work here so my presence shouldn't really be a surprise to you," I said.

She rolled her eyes. "Do you want something?"

"No. Just passing by on my way to Gryffindor Tower," I said.

"Have fun," she said. "I'm on my way back to the dungeons. Don't worry, I'll be keeping my distance from your fiancé."

"Yes, I'm sure you will," I said.

"I just bet you find this whole situation hilarious don't you?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Did you honestly think you were going to be able to pull off such a stupid trick?" I asked. "And if you actually had managed to split us up, what makes you think that Draco would even want you? He loves me, Andy. It's always been me and you wouldn't change that."

She rolled her eyes. "You really think that? That Draco loves you so much that there isn't a force on the planet that could tear the two of you apart?"

"Yes," I said.

Andy laughed. "You're so fucking stupid, Hannah. I mean, you think the two of you have got this amazing relationship because your relationship survived a war. Who gives a fuck? Voldemort is dead and buried so now you just think everything from here on out will be smooth sailing. But you're wrong. You're not playing with Dark Wizards anymore. This is real life. I may have been the first girl who's tried to take Draco from you, but I won't be the last. I promise. And as for you, while it makes me gag to even think about the fact that someone might find you attractive, there'll be other guys in your life and I know Draco won't like that. So go on and keep living in this little fantasy that you two are perfect, but if you even had any doubts because of my so called 'stupid trick' then I don't know how you're going to handle it when you have real problems."

I rolled my eyes.

"Goodbye, Andy," I said. She smiled as I walked past her back toward Gryffindor Tower.

When I arrived at the girl's dorm, only Hermione was present, already hard at work on her potions paper. I laid down on her bed next to her where she was working.

"Tough afternoon?" she asked.

"I ran into Andy," I said.

"Sounds delightful. What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing really," I said. "She just said that she won't be the last girl who tries to steal Draco from me."

"Which is probably true," Hermione said.

"Yeah, I know," I said. "But she said something else as well."

"She said that Draco and I won't be able to handle real problems," I said. "You don't think that's true do you?"

Hermione paused for a moment as she thought about it. "Well, what real problems have you encountered thus far? I mean, Voldemort was an unorthodox problem and you managed to come out the other side of that all right. And you even managed to deal with Andy all right. Any other real problems you struggling with recently?"

I nodded. "Yeah, actually."

"Wedding planning doesn't count," she said.

"Nothing to do with the wedding as it happens," I said.

"Well, what is it?" she asked.

I sat up and rested my head on her shoulder.

"I'm pregnant again," I said.

Hermione gasped and quickly turned to face me.

"Are you really?" she asked.

"Yeah. Due in October this time. Dana confirmed it on Saturday," I said.

"How did Draco take it when you told him?" Hermione asked.

"He panicked, big time, but he's come around to the idea a lot quicker than he did with Mira," I said.

"Obviously. You'll both be out of school and married with a house and jobs when the next one gets here. Not to mention the considerable lack of dark wizards this time around," Hermione said. "I'm actually happy for you. By the time Ron and I decide to have kids all of yours will be able to babysit."

I chuckled.

"Are you scared?" she asked.

"Completely terrified," I said. "But I'm excited as well."

"Good. Because it is exciting. It's not what you planned, but really, how can anyone really hate the miracle of life? Is there anything more wonderful than that?" Hermione asked.

"I can't think of anything," I said I laid back down on her pillow. "Feels a bit strange though."

"What? Having another living person growing inside of you?" Hermione asked.

"No," I chuckled. "Growing up. Actually being an adult."

"Yeah. I'm still a bit shocked that I'm getting married at the end of the year to a boy who used to think I was a nightmare and who has the emotional range of a teaspoon," Hermione said with a chuckle. "And you're having babies and Ginny's going to be a professional athlete and Harry and Ron are going to be aurors and eight years ago we just a bunch of little kids who liked to get into trouble."

"We didn't exactly like it. It just always sort of happened," I said. "Although we did go looking for it a lot."

"You're missing out this year. This is what a normal year at Hogwarts is supposed to be like," Hermione said. "It's completely boring."

I laughed. "I think I like it being boring."

"Me too," she said. "I like not having to worry about Voldemort trying to kill you."

". . . You know they want to me to talk about last year at the memorial dedication in May," I said.

"Are you?" she asked.

"Should I?" I asked.

"Everyone wants to know what we were up to last year," Hermione said. "Almost like they want closure. But we can't really give them that can we? We can't tell them about the Horcruxes and without that no one really understands why we were doing what we were doing. We may as well have just been hiding in the forest all year."

"Do you think people deserve to know the truth?" I asked.

"We weren't keeping it a secret because we didn't think people should know. We were keeping it a secret because Dumbledore asked us not to tell because he didn't want people knowing how much he really knew about Voldemort," Hermione said.

"Dumbledore loved his secrets didn't he?" I asked.

"You know. . . His portrait is in McGonagall's office. I know you never speak to him," Hermione said. "But he's really the only person who can tell you if it's okay to talk about."

888

"So you just took it upon yourself to invite them here?" Tyler asked me at work the next day. I'd just finished telling him about the upcoming field trip and he was none too pleased. "Hanging around with a bunch of seventh years who aren't going to care one way or the other about potions is the least desirable thing I can think do with my Sunday."

"It won't be so bad. After all, most of them are my friends," I said.

"Is that Andy girl coming?" Tyler asked.

I sighed. "Much to my dismay. Though I doubt she'll be giving me anymore trouble where Draco is concerned."

"You never know. Girls like Andy tend to make careers out of being homewreckers," Tyler said.

"I don't doubt it. My hope is that she decides to take her happy ass back to America when she finishes school so she can ruin someone's life there," I said.

"I hope all of your dreams come true," Tyler said.

I laughed. "Don't be a jackass. I really hate her."

"I understand," he said. "But you realize that she won't be the first girl to come into your life?"

"Oh, she reminded me of that too," I said. "It's all right though. I am prepared for it. That's the power of love."

Tyler chuckled. "Maybe one day I'll find something like you and Draco have."

"I hope that you do," I said. "Because we're awesome and everyone should be as awesome as we are."

Tyler chuckled.

"Oh, I've just remembered," I said. I turned around and looked through my bag. I pulled out a wedding invitation and handed it to Tyler. "You have been invited."

"And Young Mister Malfoy doesn't have an issue with this?" he asked. "I could tell when I met him at the hospital he was very suspicious of me."

"He was, but now he says you can't be nearly half as horrible as Andy if you do fancy me because you're a Gryffindor and you're more respectful than that," I said.

"Well, for the record, I don't fancy you, though I doubt saying so will make your fiancé feel any better," he said. I nodded in agreement. "As for this wedding business, I will be there."

"Glad to hear it," I said. "I promise I won't sit you with anyone annoying."

"Thanks for that," he said.

"Potter, Hawkins, I hope you two aren't back there slacking off as usual," Thaddeus shouted back to us.

"Always slacking off, sir," I said with a wink, returning to copying notes. It was a boring and repetitive job, occasionally, I came across interesting work that someone did and I learned a few things which made this task bearable.

Thaddeus turned away, mumbling something to himself about "damn kids" and whatnot. I rolled my eyes.

"I really need to work on how speak to my superiors," I said. "I'm starting to understand why Dumbledore used to ground me so much. Especially now that I have a child who is just as adamant as I was about not following directions."

"I guess that's always the way of it," Tyler said. "My mum always says that Genie and I inherited her worst qualities."

"If you don't mind me saying, I totally believe that about your sister," I said. "But you seem like you haven't got an irritating quality in your whole body."

"That's because I'm sneaky, which is one of those traits my mum doesn't like," he said. "I pull you in because I'm charming, and then bam, once you've gotten to know me I can up saying something really offensive that you don't expect."

"Really? Like what?" I asked.

"You are a soulless ginger," Tyler said.

I scoffed. "I grew up with the Weasleys. I am impervious to the red-head jokes."

"Darn. Well next time I'll try harder to insult you," he said.

"Good, because that was disappointing," I said.

888

It was Friday morning and we were on the train to London with our group of Hogwarts students for their field trip. Neville, Marius and I were the only "teachers" that had been assigned to chaperone the train ride into London, along with Harry, Ron, and Lydia who had come from the Auror office. The group was very small and McGonagall, along with the rest of the Hogwarts staff, felt that pulling a large number of teachers from their Friday classes to sit on a train all day would be silly. Neville, Marius, and I knew when to be teachers and when to be friends.

Right now I was on teacher mode. I was sitting in a cabin with a group of seventh years who all were on the brink of tears or mental breakdowns.

"So, I've got a question completely unrelated to the assignment but still relevant to the polyjuice potion," Ginny whispered to me.

"Yes, dear," I said.

"So this potion requires human urine," Ginny said. I nodded. "So. . . when you made this during your second year-."

"We don't talk about it," Hermione said. "We have a pact."

"You have lots of pacts," Ginny said.

"We were 12. We drank a potion made with a close friend's urine. It was a blood pact," I said.

"You guys don't mess around," Draco said.

"We were breaking the law. We were hardcore," Hermione said. "Moving on, I have completely blanked on what the other uses of boomslang skin are."

"I'm still trying to determine why it's important that the fluxweed be picked during a full moon," Draco said flipping through his book.

"Oh! I actually know that!" Luna said excitedly, looking up from her book for the first time since she'd come into the room.

"I have to go to the restroom. Try not to have any aneurisms while I'm gone," I said.

"No promises," Draco said.

"I think I'll join you. I need a break from all this," Ginny said.

I walked out of the cabin, Ginny in tow and we started toward the bathroom.

"I hate Snape for this assignment," Ginny said. "It's horrible and exhausting."

"I know, but it really will be useful to you when you take the NEWTs. And trust me when I say that the potion you'll have to breakdown will be much simpler," I said.

"This field trip was supposed to be fun," Ginny said.

"It hasn't even really started yet," I said as we walked into the deserted restroom.

"I know, but I was not expecting to spend the train ride watching Natalia Drake cry into her potions book," Ginny said.

"But you said her anguish sustains you," I said.

"Yeah, but I want to cry as well so I feel more solidarity than joy from it," she said.

"You are a card, Ginny Weasley," I said.

"Oh, and let's not forget that Kristen Mills tagged along with Harry and Ron," Ginny said. "I'm sure she's just patrolling the train with him and trying to chat him up."

"According to Harry, Kristen hasn't tried anything since she started her auror training and Ron confirmed it," I said.

"Can we really take their word for it, Hannah? I mean, I challenge you to find a pair of boys more oblivious than them, barring Crabbe and Goyle," Ginny said.

"Yes, that is a challenge," I said. "But she seems all right to me."

"She's your friend. Of course you think she's great," Ginny said. I smiled. "Who's the auror they've put on the train with us?"

"Dawlish," I said.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "The one that tried to take in Dumbledore?"

"Same," I said. "And Lydia's here too. She's going to take her auror exams soon so apparently she's 'leading' our young up and coming team of aurors in training and Dawlish is kind of here to just observe."

Suddenly the train gave a violent jerk. Ginny and I grabbed onto the sink to catch our balance.

"What do you reckon that was?" Ginny said.

"I dunno," I said. We both moved to look out of the bathroom window. Outside, we saw nothing but snow covered hills and valleys passing by, and the sky was gray with clouds.

"That was weird," Ginny said. "For a moment there I was having flashbacks of dementors boarding us."

But then the train shook violently again and started to screech to a halt. Ginny and I tumbled to the floor as the lavatory was plunged into darkness.

We both reached for our wands as we climbed to our feet. Just as my fingers wrapped around it, there was a loud explosion next to us. The bathroom wall disintegrated and cold air gushed in as pieces of debris were flung at us, pushing us to the ground once again.

Everything went black for a long moment.

When I came to the first thing that registered was that I was cold. I was lying in the snow. The next thing that registered was pain. Everything hurt. My head was pounding, there was a ringing in my ears from the explosion. I opened my eyes and could see that I was lying right next to the train tracks. The Hogwarts Express was still there, but clearly had taken a beating.

I felt around in the snow for my wand and was relieved when I grabbed onto it. I started to push myself up, but as soon as I went to move my left arm pain overwhelmed me. It wasn't just in my arm. All down the left side of me I felt pain.

The next thing I registered was that I didn't know where Ginny was. She'd been standing next to me in the bathroom when the wall exploded. She had to be out here too.

"Ginny!" I shouted. No answer. "Ginny, are you okay?!" I lifted my head and looked around. Not too far ahead I could see her lying on the ground, face up in the snow. "Ginny!"

"No one's going to hear you screaming girly."

I boot kicked me in the face, rolling me over onto my side. I looked up and Fenrir Greyback was standing there over me.

"Now what was the last thing you said when I got to have a chat with you last?" he asked me. ". . . Oh, I remember now." He kicked me as hard as he could in the stomach. "Come at me, bro. That's what you said." He kicked me again.

"Please stop," I cried.

"Want me to stop? Want me to get your little friend first?" he asked. He started to walked away towards Ginny. I rolled over onto my stomach which was now screaming in pain. I picked my wand back up from the snow.

"Stupefy!" I shouted. I hit him in the back and he went down. "Incarcerous!"

Ropes wrapped around his body.

"You always were an idiot, Greyback. Even Voldemort knew that," I said. I started to pull myself along the ground towards Ginny, ignoring the horrible pain that I was in. I reached her side and saw that she was unconscious. I shook her gently.

"Ginny," I said. She didn't respond. I placed my hand on the side of her neck. I could feel her pulse, but it was very weak. I could hear her breathing, but it was very shallow and weak. "Ginny, please get up." She still didn't move.

I held my wand up toward the sky. I was weak, the pain in my stomach was slowly becoming more and more unbearable, but something was wrong with Ginny. She needed help fast.

"Expecto patronum!" I shouted. Light erupted from my wand, but it wasn't nearly enough to signal them to where I was. I shot out green sparks this time before dropping my wand to the ground limply.

Then Ginny started to stir.

"Ginny," I said.

She started coughing. To my horror, blood started pouring out of her mouth.

"Ginny," I started.

". . . Can't. . . Can't. . . Can't breathe," she wheezed out.

"Don't talk," I said doing my best to ignore the pain that was still growing in my stomach. "Someone's coming, I promise. You're going to be okay." I grabbed her hand. "Just stay with me. Just squeeze my hand so I know you're okay."

She squeezed my hand. It wasn't very tightly, but at least I knew she was responsive.

"Hello!" I shouted. "Draco! Harry! Someone help!" The pain in my stomach was unbearable. I started crying as I called out for help.

"Hannah!" a voice called out. I recognized it immediately.

"Ron!" I shouted.

Ron dropped down in the snow next to me.

"She said she can't breathe, Ron. I don't know what's wrong with her," I said.

"Ginny, can you hear me?" Ron asked her.

She squeezed my hand.

"She's got my hand. She's still okay, but we have to get her to the hospital," I said.

"And you. How are you?" he asked.

"Pain. Lots of pain," I said.

"And you're bleeding badly," he said.

"From where? It hurts all over," I said.

"I can't tell, but you've lost a lot of blood," he said.

"Ron! Where are you?" I heard Kristen shout.

"I found them! They're over here!" Ron shouted back. "Don't worry. You're going to be fine."

[Chapter title credit to Linkin Park for the song "Breaking the Habit."]