"Malfoy, if you're going to go, someone's got to go with you. Them's the rules."

"But you said I only had to go out with a guard after dark!" I protested. I made the mistake of casually bringing up my Hogsmeade trip after an impromptu Order meeting after work on Thursday. As soon as Moody heard I was leaving London, I'd wished I kept my mouth shut.

"Alastor, she will be perfectly safe," Dumbledore cut in. "She will be mere moments from my school, and she will be surrounded by her peers. I see no reason to worry."

"For once I'm with you, Professor," I said eagerly, totally throwing courtesy to the wind. "I won't be out terribly late, I promise. Those Hogsmeade visits do have a curfew, you know."

"If I migh' cut in," Mundugus slurred, pushing his greasy, ginger hair from his sallow face. "I'm supposed to still be watching the Potter boy, after all. If he's goin' into 'Ogsmeade, I could go with Miss Malfoy, if need be."

I turned back to Moody and Dumbledore, my whole face now pleading for them to hear me out.

"Please don't make me go with him," I begged.

"We're not in the business of making you do anything, Malfoy," growled Moody. "But, considering you were attacked out of all the rest of us a few months ago, constant vigilance is key."

I looked at Moody, then Mundungus, then back to Moody. I sighed. If the only way I could go to Hogsmeade was with Mundungus along for the ride, then I just had to suck it up and deal with it.

"Fine," I sighed. "I'm going there for about eleven. Try to be at least a little sober by that time, will you Dung?"

He chuckled a low, mischievous chuckle that told me he wasn't making any promises.

"I'll do my best, love, you mark my words," he slurred again.

After saying my goodbyes to everyone, I darted upstairs to find the letter from Fred that told me where to meet him. All it said, in Fred's familiar scrawl, was:

C-

Hog's Head. 11.

F.

I prayed that Mundungus was somehow banned or forbidden from entering the Hog Head so that he couldn't come with me. That sounded like something he'd manage to do.

Underneath the letter from Fred was another piece of parchment, a piece that was slipped under the door of Mulpepper's Thursday afternoon. I remembered when I picked it up and examined it, the smell of lavender perfume and mint overwhelmed my senses. It read:

Night out on Saturday? We know you'll be out with the boy during the day, but who says you can't come out at night as well? You're only eighteen once, you know. Might as well live it up with your friends while you can. -C. LaC.

Shit. I remembered that in addition to spending the day in Hogsmeade with Fred, Clo and Francis had roped me into a night on the town after I returned. While I'd managed to skirt the rules about guards multiple times before, I wasn't sure how forgiving Moody would be if he found out I was out all day and all night. In addition, I wasn't sure how forgiving Sirius would be if he and Remus knew I was out. As the days went by, they were both becoming more bitter that I could be out in the world and they could not. Remus tried his best to conceal it. Sirius, on the other hand, never tried at all.

As I flopped back on my bed, I tried my best to fall asleep and failed, my mind racing with a million anxious thoughts. I hadn't seen Fred in a little over a month, and while I hadn't really let anyone know it, I missed him terribly. I missed staying up late for tea with him, helping him and George perfect their Skiving Snackboxes behind their mum's back, and I missed the feeling of his hands on my shoulders and back, relieving the tension in my muscles when I stood over a cauldron for too long. I missed having one of the few people who could read me like a book, who knew exactly what I needed before I did, right at the bottom of the stairs.

In a few days, we'd be back together. Back where we – where I – belonged. I should have been excited. Instead, I was only nervous, bordering on flat-out terrified. He'd only been gone a month, we'd been writing letters to one another pretty much the whole time, and nothing had really changed between us. What the hell was the matter with me, then?

Get it together, Cass, I thought, trying to bring myself back to earth. You love him. You love him. You love him.

"DUNG? IS THAT YOU?" I bellowed from the third floor. "IT BETTER BE! I'M NOT ABOUT TO BE LATE BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T SOBER ENOUGH TO APPARATE!"

"Quit your yapping, Malfoy, I'm here," I heard Mundungus mutter from the bottom of the stairs. The tone of his voice clearly indicated that he was hungover, or even still drunk.

I turned back to face the mirror and admired my appearance. I wore a black and white striped shirt - one that reminded me of an American rock singer who wore a similar shirt to an award show a few years back - black trousers, and my steel-toed boots. I threw my hair back with a large clip, pulled my leather jacket around my shoulders, and jogged down the stairs to find Mundungus leaning against the railing, appraising the china and silver in a cabinet next to the drawing room.

"Here," I said sharply, thrusting a bottle of Ogden's at Mundungus. "Hair of the dog. Take a swig and let's head out."

"That's quite alright, Malfoy, I've beat you to it," he said hurriedly, clearly implying he'd already snuck some of the centuries-old liquor from the drawing room. In a huff, I flung the front door open and headed down the sidewalk, not even waiting for him to catch up.

"Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, Malfoy!" Mundungus called from behind me, his hair flopped wildly in front of his eyes. "I probably won't look like me once we get into the Hog's Head. I'll be the one in disguise this time."

"Why? What did-"

"I may have gotten myself banned from there, er, twenty years ago?" he said carefully, almost wincing in anticipation of my response.

My jaw dropped, my face contorting in anger and confusion.

"Dung, how are we supposed to get in if you've been – you know what, with or without you, I'm going. I don't even care."

And with that, I gave Dung one final glare, turned on my heel, and vanished into the air.

I landed almost perfectly outside the entrance to the Hog's Head.

Before I entered, I surveyed my surroundings. Hogsmeade looked the same as ever; the trees were turning from green to red to brown, so the landscape was in brilliant color despite the gray skies. To my left, students were hustling and bustling in and out of all the different shops in Hogsmeade, carrying trinkets from Zonko's and treats from Honeyduke's in their hands and pockets. For a moment, it made me almost jealous.

Focusing back on my pounding heart and racing thoughts of Fred, I entered the Hog's Head, which was dusty, dark, and empty, save for a heavily bandaged wizard, two men with strong Yorkshire accents conversing rapidly, and a squat witch with a thick, black veil over her face. I didn't recognize her, until I saw a stringy piece of ginger hair poking out from under the veil and hat. I quickly wandered back to the witch's table and sat down in a huff.

"Nice disguise, Grandmama," I hissed to Mundungus.

"Quiet, Malfoy," he hissed back.

I turned back to face the door, which was now wide open with students pouring in. The Hog's Head wasn't usually a spot that students patronized, but the faces I saw were familiar. Katie Bell, Annabeth Taylor, Angelina, Ginny, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom with a petite, platinum-haired girl with wide eyes and earrings that resembled oranges filed in while Hermione, Ron, and Harry appeared from across the room, scrambling to pull up chairs and find extra places to sit. From the look on Harry's face, I could tell that whatever was happening was not at all his idea.

Suddenly, the door swung open again and, bringing up the rear, were Lee Jordan, George, and Fred. My heart started doing flips as soon as I caught a glimpse of his freckled, golden face; his mother cut his hair before the start of school, but it was growing longer again, and his blue jumper, trousers, and dragon-hide boots looked perfect on him, the trousers fitting him just right. Fred Weasley was born to wear Muggle clothes, I thought. He looks…well, he looks perfect. He always does.

I sauntered up to the bar, trying to keep my emotions in check. Clearly something important was going on, and I didn't want my presence to distract anybody. Right as I reached the bar, Fred turned around to address the barman, not even registering that I was standing right there.

"Hi, er, could we have…twenty-five butterbeers, please?" Fred asked quickly, trying to rip off the Band-Aid of an embarrassing question. The barman gave a short nod, turning around to grab the dusty, brown bottles from below.

"Cheers," Fred muttered, then turned around to address the crowd. "Cough up, all! I don't have enough gold to foot this bill!"

"I've got them," I said to the barman, dumping out my small, velvet bag of Galleons and Sickles into his hand. "I'll take an Ogden's and ginger beer, if you've got it. Make it a double, if you can."

As soon as I said the words 'Ogden's and ginger,' Fred whipped around, his eyes wide and his face red. I turned slowly to meet his gaze, my face breaking into a huge smile.

His eyes widened when he realized it was me, taking in my appearance all at once. He ran his hand through his hair quickly, the expression changing from surprised to ecstatic to hungry, as though he wanted to lift me off my feet and snog me in front of everyone in the Hog's Head right that very minute. I put a finger to my lips, grabbed my drink from the barman, and gave my boyfriend a playful wink before heading back to my seat with Mundungus.

After a few more minutes of students filing in and Harry and Hermione arguing in hushed tones, the two of them turned to address the crowd. I sipped my drink quietly and waited to hear what exactly was happening here.

"Well…er…hi!" Hermione said nervously, her voice shaking from nerves. All twenty-five pairs of eyes in the room were trained on her. She gulped, then continued.

"Well . . . erm . . . well, you know why you're here," she continued. "We, Harry and I, thought that it might be good to meet with people who want to study Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I mean, really study it, and not the rubbish that Umbridge is teaching us, if you can even call that teaching. I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."

"You do want to pass your Defense O.W.L, though, right?" piped up a long-haired, brown-skinned boy of about fourteen.

"Of course I do!" Hermione exclaimed, turning back to face the crowd. "But we need more. I want to be properly trained in how to defend myself because…because…well, because Lord Voldemort's back."

The mood suddenly shifted across the crowd. Fred and George's identical jaws tensed. Cho Chang shrieked slightly, nearly dropping her butterbeer on the floor, while Neville Longbottom's round, usually kind face tensed up in anger and fear.

"Wait a minute," snapped a blond-hair, broad-shouldered boy near the middle of the crowd. "Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?"

Hermione gulped, giving Harry a glance. Harry's eyes were glued to the floor.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it-"

"You mean Dumbledore believes him," the boy snapped again, now pointing accusingly at Harry.

"Right, who the bloody hell are you?" Ron shot back, standing up from his spot next to Harry.

"Zacharias Smith," said the blond boy. "And I think we've all got a right to know who says You-Know-Who's back, right?"

"Alright, that's not really why we're doing this-"

"It's alright, Hermione," Harry cut in softly, his voice flat. Poor kid. This whole time he looked visibly uncomfortable with all the talk of Voldemort and proper Defense training. He looked like he wished the ground would open and swallow him whole.

Suddenly, he picked up his head, his expression hard and defiant, his green eyes blazing.

"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked Zacharias directly. "I saw him come back. Dumbledore's already told everyone what happened in June. If you didn't believe him them, I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you now."

I turned to Mundungus, who was watching Harry. I still had no idea what was going on. Whatever they had planned was clearly being derailed, and quickly, by this Zacharias Smith character.

"If you've come to hear what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone, I can't help you," Harry said, the volume of his voice rising with each word. "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, either. If that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."

Silence fell over the room again. Everyone exchanged looks of discomfort and pity. Right as Harry started to head for the door, the blonde girl with the orange-like earrings stood on her toes to get his attention.

"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus charm?" she asked, her voice light and airy.

"Yeah," responded Harry.

The murmurs in the crowd turned to oohs and ahs.

"Blimey, Harry," cried Lee. "I didn't know you could do that?"

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," Fred explained. "Says he gets too much attention as it is."

"She's not wrong," Harry countered, which was met with giggles from the group. Suddenly more questions began to crop up.

"Is it true you killed the basilisk?" asked a boy with short, brown hair. "With the sword in Dumbledore's office? One of the portraits told me you did- "

"I did," Harry said again. Again, more oohs and ahs.

"And in first year, he saved the Sorcerer's Stone from You-Know-Who too!" Neville chimed in.

"And think of all the tasks he had to get through in the tournament last year," Cho piped up from the back. Harry's eyes met hers, and his cheeks turned slightly pink. "Dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and mazes…"

After a few more minutes of impressed murmurs and whispers, Harry cleared his throat loudly, attempting to address the crowd again. His face was now stone-cold and solemn, like whatever he was about to say was something incredibly difficult. I leaned forward to listen closely.

"Look, I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but . . . I had a lot of help with all that stuff. I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is —"

"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias again.

"Here's an idea," said Ron angrily, "why don't you shut your mouth?"

"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," Zacharias countered

"That's not what he said," snapped Fred, clearly fed up.

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" asked George, who pulled a thin, metal rod from a Zonko's bag and waved it about wildly.

"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred. I couldn't help but snicker from the corner. He may have had a funny way of doing it, but I loved seeing Fred jump to Harry's defense in a big brother sort of way.

"Yes, well," said Hermione, trying to ensure no one got lobbed with George's metal stick. "The point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"

Everyone exchanged looks, murmuring affirmatives to one another. I couldn't believe my ears, but I probably should've expected Harry, Ron, and Hermione to be the ones to start a secret defense society, like their very own Order of the Phoenix here at Hogwarts. It was impressive on all sorts of fronts, and I was rather proud of them.

After a few minutes of discussing dates and times, Hermione passed around a piece of parchment and a quill for everyone to sign their names. Fred snatched the piece of paper from her hands and proudly signed his name at the top of the sheet, passing it along to George, Angelina, Katie, Annabeth, and so forth.

After a few more minutes of discussion and questions, most of which were answered by Hermione, Fred jumped to his feet, his eyes landing on me in the corner of the pub.

"Well, time's ticking on!" he said briskly. "And I, for one, have a hot date. See you lot later!"

"Wait, Fred, who's- "

"Oi, Weasley, weren't you-"

"No time to chat lads," he said to George and Lee as he wandered toward the door, giving his friends a quick salute as he leaned on the door. "I've got important business to attend to."

I turned to see that Mundungus was now dead asleep next to me. Well, he is supposed to be watching Harry and not me, I thought. He won't even know I'm gone.

After everyone had started filing out of the Hog's Head, I ran after Fred and George to try and catch Fred's attention. When I crossed the threshold onto the path outside the pub, I saw Fred waiting for me, running his hands through this hair and a smile bursting across his face.

"Well, come here, you!" he bellowed.

In a flash, I ran the ten steps between us and threw myself into his arms, letting him lift me off the ground and spin me round and round in circles, our laughter intermingling in the air around us. When he put me down, he snaked his hand behind my neck and kissed me on the mouth fiercely. I settled into the kiss slowly, savoring the taste of cinnamon and butterscotch and the scent of tobacco and freshly mowed grass that stuck to his clothes and lips. Even though we'd only been apart a month, it felt like we were reuniting after years away from one another.

"Hiya, love," I whispered, holding his face in my hands. God, those eyes.

"Merlin, I'm so happy you're here," he breathed into my hair. "I missed you, darling."

"Yeah, I guess I missed you too," I said, giving him a swift kiss on the cheek. Behind me, I heard hooting and hollering.

"I didn't know you'd be coming down, Malfoy!" Lee said.

"Don't tell me you two are going to be snogging all day!" George groaned.

I wrapped my arm around Fred's waist, his arms already snaked around me. All the jokes and comments had nothing on me right now. I was back with Fred, back where I belonged, and I couldn't have been happier.

"So, Weasley, what would you like to do today?" I said to Fred brightly. He considered for a moment, his brows knitting together the way they always did. God, I missed that.

"I've got some ideas," he said, flexing his fingers around my back as he led me away from the Hog's Head. "Shall we?"

"I promise I won't leave these in the Three Broomsticks this time around," I said, running my fingers over the dainty yellow dogweeds Fred had given me after we reunited. "I don't think I'll be having any outbursts today."

"Thank Merlin for that," Fred replied as we wandered through the stacks at Tomes and Scrolls, the Hogsmeade bookshop. As I weaved in and out of the narrow aisles, I kept watching Fred as he moved around me, his long, muscular limbs winding around the shelves to grab different books, reading them upside-down or stopping to read the copies that floated by in front of his face. Every move he made was magic, and I couldn't take my eyes off him as he walked ahead of me.

"So, you going to tell me how everything's been?" I asked. "How are classes? Testing products? That horrid Defense professor of yours? Tell me everything, I want to know it all."

"Yeah, yeah, er, everything's good!" he said, leaning back on a shelf and watching me. "George and I are kind of through with academia, but Mum would kill us if we dropped out so close to finishing. We're due to start testing our products in the next few weeks, which ought to be…well, it ought to be something, I should think. I don't really want to talk about Umbridge, though. She's the reason Harry's starting this whole Defense society. We need it."

I nodded, taking in these rather general answers from Fred. I was hoping for – hell, I was expecting – long-winded, drawn out answers that I'd come to expect from him. The answers he'd just given me felt like answers you'd give to an acquaintance, or someone you just didn't want to talk to. Not your girlfriend of almost one year.

Nevertheless, I brushed it off. I'm sure he'd open up a little more as the day went on. He would, wouldn't he?

"What's she like? Remus says she's the one who introduced all the anti-werewolf legislation in the Ministry," I continued, running my fingers down the spine of a Potions book I'd picked off the shelf. "She sounds horrid, but she can't be horrid to a bunch of kids, can she?"

Fred's smile faded and he folded his arms across his chest, concealing his hands from view.

"You'd be surprised, Malfoy. You'd be surprised."

I eyed him carefully, my eyes traveling down to his hands, which were now jammed under his armpits to conceal them from view. I could've sworn I saw an angry, red scar scratched across his right hand, but I wasn't certain. Even if there was a scar, it was probably from Quidditch; Fred's hand, shoulders, and chest were covered in marks and scars from rogue Bludgers and Quidditch-related injuries. I was sure it was nothing, and if it was something, Fred would tell me.

"You know, I am really glad you were able to come today," he continued, pushing himself off the shelf and taking a step toward me, backing me into the shelf behind us. "You've no idea how much I missed you, Malfoy."

A giggle escaped my lips as he towered over me, and I tilted my chin upward to look him in the eye.

"Did you really?" I asked jokingly, cocking an eyebrow. "How much?"

He smirked, then swooped down to kiss the side of my nose softly and slowly, his lips lingering on the bridge slightly. I giggled again as he kissed my cheekbone, ear, and forehead, a smile creeping across his lips with every move he made.

The butterflies in my stomach still fluttered whenever Fred was around, and everything still felt new and exciting with us. Loving him was still so easy, like the only thing in the world that mattered was what we shared.

"That much," he whispered. "Having you around…it's a good distraction form everything that's going on."

"A distraction?" I asked, suddenly offended and alarmed at the idea of being merely a distraction. "Freddie, are you sure everything's alright?"

He smiled again, but I saw some semblance of sadness in his eyes. I knew right then that whatever was going on in his head, or here at school, was a secret that he wouldn't be sharing with me.

"I'm okay, Cass, really," he finally said, squeezing my hand reassuringly. "Just got a lot on my mind. It's okay, though – the most important thing on my mind right now is having you to myself the rest of the day."

"That may very well be true, Freddie, but you did promise you'd meet us at the Three Broomsticks at some point," a voice called from the aisle beside us.

I whipped around to see George and Annabeth standing in the adjacent aisle, their faces peeking out from between the books on the shelves.

"Hi, you two," I said with a grin. George wiggled his eyebrows at his brother, his left hand playing with Annabeth's hair as she leafed through the shelves, unbothered by George's touch. "How's seventh year been treating you so far?"

"Oh, it's been grand," George said, rolling his eyes. "Getting ready to test some Skiving Snackbox products here in a few weeks, avoiding a maniacal Defense professor, spending time with Miss Evans-Taylor here…I can't complain, Malfoy."

"Good to hear," I said with an approving nod, before turning back to Fred. "If you're ready to go, Fred, we can. Since we're all here, we can go to the Three Broomsticks now? Or later? I've got to be back at some point this afternoon."

"We can go now, or whenever Anna's done leafing through the shelves. That could be all afternoon, though," George remarked with a grin. Without turning around, Annabeth raised her hand and playfully smacked him in the chest, which elicited a laugh from all parties.

"Very well. We'll probably walk a bit more, then meet you there in about, say, thirty minutes?"

They nodded, turning away to keep wandering through the store. I bounded down to the cashier, paid for my book ('The Potions Obscurus' by Leonidas Gray), and headed out of the shop together with Fred. As soon as I turned the corner, I saw a familiar, sneering face a few paces ahead of me.

"Couldn't find any Mudbloods to screw in London, could you? Reckon that's the only reason you'd ever show your face back here."

Fred's grip moved from my hand to my forearm, trying to keep me tethered as I whipped around to look my brother in the face.

The older Draco became, the more he looked like our father; the platinum blond hair was longer, the skin paler, the eyes more soulless than they were when I last saw him. He wore black robes of very expensive-looking material, and Pansy Parkinson was clutching his arm with all her might, her face screwed up in a smug expression.

"No, Draco, I didn't," I said, the heat rising my face as we stared each other down. "Why would I find someone in London when the wizard I'm screwing is right here?"

Next to me, Fred choked on his own laughter. The bit about screwing wasn't true, but it was worth it to see Draco's face contorting into fury and disgust at the comment. His eyes darted from me to Fred, then back to me, the wheels in his head turning in search for a nasty response.

"Weasley still wants to be with you?" he scoffed. "How much you paying my sister, Weaselby? Probably not much – you don't have the money and she's not worth a Knut."

"Why don't you leave us alone, Malfoy?" Fred shot back, squeezing my wrist tighter.

"You two aren't worth my time," he said, his eyes boring into my skull. "I see some things really haven't changed."

"Quite right, little brother!" I remarked, raising my eyebrows mockingly. "Seeing as how you're still a sniveling, bigoted bastard, I'd say things are just the same as we left them!"

Suddenly, Draco ripped his arm out of Pansy's grasp and lunged at me. Instinctively, I pulled my wand from my jacket and pointed it right at his face. He stopped short, staring down the tip of my wand almost fearfully, like he was remembering our showdown on the Hogwarts Express back in July. Nevertheless, he backed away and smirked menacingly at Fred.

"Better watch your girlfriend, Weasley," he sneered. "Wouldn't want anyone hearing that you witnessed someone threatening a prefect! 'Must not cause trouble', remember?"

I turned around to see Fred's faced hardening at Draco's words. I could've sworn I saw his eyes glistening with tears as he shoved his right hand deep into the pocket of his trousers. I took his free hand and squeezed it hard. I wasn't going to let my disgusting brother ruin mine or Fred's day. Not for a second.

"Draco, you're as much a prefect as I am a Death Eater," I sneered, shoving him with my shoulder as Fred and I breezed past him. "Let's go."

When Draco and Pansy were out of sight, I pulled Fred into an alley quickly. His head was down, clearly trying to hide his face from me. I could've sworn he was trying to not cry, but I wasn't completely sure.

"Hey, hey, hey," I whispered soothingly. "What's going on? I know Draco's disgusting, but that was completely out of line, even for him- "

"I'm fine," Fred snapped, his voice low. He picked up his head, his cheeks tear-free but his eyes glassy still. "Your brother's been on a bit of a power trip this year. Making a lot of people's lives miserable. Makes me angry that he thinks he has a hold on you, too."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't. Everyone here knows him as stupid school bully, but I know him as a carbon copy of our father, right down to how spineless they both are," I said fiercely. "Whatever he's doing, he's doing it because someone's letting him. I don't think he's ever been so emboldened as to attempt physical violence, so someone's given him the courage. Are you sure everything's been okay at school so far?"

He nodded furiously, looking up and down the alley slowly. His eyes landed back on me, and even though everything was fine a little while ago, he felt a million miles away right now.

"Yeah, everything's been fine other than that," he said. "Things have been hard, but it's nothing we can't handle."

I searched his face for a more in-depth answer, but I resigned myself to the fact that I probably wasn't getting one. Remembering our rule, I wasn't going to push him further.

"I believe you," I said slowly, standing on my tiptoes to press a gentle kiss onto his forehead. I wanted to take away whatever bad things he was feeling, but I probably couldn't, and I didn't think he would even let me if I tried. That saddened me, but I brushed it aside. I just wanted the rest of our day together to be perfect.

"Right, I think I need a drink," he said with a forced laugh. "Three Broomsticks now?"

I nodded, taking his arm and leading him out of the alley and back into the world, all traces of…whatever the bloody hell just happened, completely erased.

After about two hours of chatting, laughing, and drinking in the Three Broomsticks with Fred, George, Lee, Katie, Angelina, and Annabeth, it was time for me to go back to London. I almost didn't want to go, because I didn't want to leave Fred when I knew he wasn't alright. But I knew I had to get back. If things hadn't gotten worse between now and the next Hogsmeade weekend, I would come back.

As I said my goodbyes to George, Lee, and the rest, I bided my time for everyone to start heading back to the castle so Fred and I could say our goodbyes alone. As soon as I watched Annabeth and George disappear, the last two to say goodbye, I turned back to face Fred.

"Is this it?" he asked.

"Seems that way," I replied, just as we had a month ago on Platform 9 ¾. I reached forward to wrap my arms around his waist in a hug and exhaled when I felt his arms enveloping me and his hand stroking my hair. I buried my face in his jumper and inhaled, wanting to cling to the smell of tobacco and grass and firewhiskey for as long as possible.

"Are you really going to do it?" I asked. "You really joining a secret society to learn Defense from Harry?"

"Doesn't seem like we have a choice," he replied. "Umbridge is horrid, and Harry is the best hope we have. We've got to trust him."

I smiled faintly, squeezing his hands. Despite my obvious concern, I had to trust him.

"I know. Just be careful, alright? Don't want to give my brother or any horrid professors anything to talk about."

He smirked, remembering my showdown with Snape over his gossiping to my father about Fred and me. I still hadn't forgiven him for that.

"Right, well, this is where I leave you," I said awkwardly. "You know I hate this part."

"I know you do," he said, before giving me one more very tight hug. "We'll keep writing, and you can come down for Hogsmeade visits or even Quidditch, if you can. We'll have plenty of time together at Christmas, I promise."

I nodded slowly, then stood on my tiptoes once more to give Fred a kiss on the mouth. With one arm firmly on my waist, he pulled me in by the back of my neck, his fingers getting completely lost in my hair. I held onto him with all my might, not wanting to let go and inevitably let him slip away from me. I had a horrible feeling about leaving him, but I pushed it away, like I did with everything that made me feel horrible. Draco was right about one thing; some things really didn't change.

"I love you, Cass," he whispered. "You know that don't you?"

"Of course, I do," I replied, tucking a ginger hair behind his ear. "I won't ever forget. I promise."

He smiled, gave me one final kiss on the cheek, then let go of my hands and began to walk away. As I watched him go, I couldn't help but feel like I was losing him a tiny bit, but before I could dwell on that thought any longer, I turned on my heel and vanished into the air, letting gravity pull me away from the dimly lit streets of Hogsmeade and away from the person I loved most in the whole world.