A/N: Hello people and thank you so much for your support!

A big thanks to my Betas and Discord Staff - Alec, Fox, Hindu Hari, Knight, Letus, Metzger, BaptismByFire, Post Mortem and Zevoros!

Special thanks to Discord users: 5Firehawk, Guiding Moonlights, Kovacs, Dr Maou-Senpai, Post Mortem, Denduck, Wumjumba, Ac, R3, Shirokama, TrustTube, Zachary, JDH, Avatar, CJ07, Echoh, Elizabeth Wilbrooke, Jacks_, Kappe, Kryn_Womble, Mr. E, Pat, Plut0, Presno, Shawnjohn120 and Trop C'est Trop for supporting my writing and commissioning works!

Feel free to join my Discord for updates, early access and information, link on my profile. Without any more rambling from me, I hope you enjoy the story!

(Sorry if you don't like the chapter!)

Bold = Parseltongue

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE KIND REVIEWS. We now get so many that it's impossible to respond to all of them, but each and every one of you taking the time to speak your support mean the world to me. Please, by all means, speak with me in Discord or private message me here if you'd like a response! Sorry!


September 5, 1995

"Alright, Harry?" Veronica, or rather, Ronnie, asked as soon as Harry left Umbridge's office.

"Merlin, Ronnie," Harry said, pressing his left hand against his chest. "Were you trying to scare me to death?"

Ronnie laughed and punched him in the arm. "Blimey Harry, bit of a wimp now, aren't you? I was waiting for you that way I didn't have to study with 'Mione, she's gone off the deep end, she has."

"Yeah? What's she done now?" Harry asked as he pulled on Ronnie's sleeve so that she'd follow after him.

She did, only in a sluggish, drawn-out way that showed to Harry that she really didn't want to make it to Hermione any earlier than they had to.

"What hasn't she done is more like it," Ronnie said, huffing as she dragged her feet. "She's gone mad, she has — 'Mione only cares about getting a high grade in Defence and now she's trying to make me do it too. You'll talk to her for me like a good bloke, right? Tell her that doesn't mean much to me."

Harry cast a sideways glance at her. "Aren't you supposed to tell her like how you're telling me right this second? Reckon that'd be a bit more helpful and have her be a bit less mad when she finds out you went to me first," Harry raised a hand before Ronnie could speak up. "Don't say she won't find out, she always finds out anything that we do in secret. I blame you, Cannons fan that you are."

"What's that s'posed to mean, Harry?" Ronnie asked, punching him in the upper arm as she had earlier, only harder this time. "I'll have you know we were in the top half of teams this past year, you're just jealous that we're gettin better while your teams slowing down."

"I wasn't talking about how bad they are, everybody already knows that. I was talking about how loud all you Cannons fans are, it's just like Quidditch practice, nothing but screaming while you're in goal," Harry ducked out of the way and tore off down the hallway, escaping Veronica's wrath as she chased after him.

It made the pain in his hand feel nearly numb thanks to the burst of adrenaline and the rush that came with being chased. Veronica couldn't catch him, she was dead slow just like Ginny and most of her siblings, but he would slow up just enough usually so that it seemed like she had a chance.

Without warning, Harry was tackled from behind, taking him away from his thinking as he found himself on the ground with a rather heavy redheaded girl on top of him.

"Have an apology to make, don't you?" Ronnie said victoriously as she grinned down at him, her fists balling up his shirt.

Harry shook his head. "Nah, I think I'm good. You're the one who'll have to explain why you're on top of me if somebody finds us like this… until then, I can wait," Harry laughed as Ronnie's cheeks went red. "Maybe they'll think you're my girlfriend," he teased harder, poking up at her side.

"Pfft, fat chance of that, idiot," Ronnie said, pulling away from him until she was standing and then she offered a hand to help him up. "Come on then, get up. Can't have mum hear that I was straddling a bloke, 'specially you, in the middle of a hallway. Reckon I'd get myself a whole nother talk about the birds and bees from her if she heard about it."

Harry grabbed Ronnie's hand without thinking; it was the one that he'd written lines into thanks to Umbridge.

"Bloody hell," Ronnie gasped, her hand tightening around his as she pulled him up and raised that very same hand up to her face so that she could get a better look at it. "Umbridge do this to you, Harry?"

"Not rea—" Harry didn't get to say anything before Ronnie was already pulling on him, the path she was taking made it seem as if she were going to take him to Dumbledore or McGonagall.

"We'll go tell Professor McGonagall, tell her that toad-face hurt you," Ronnie said as she pulled roughly on him. "What's that old bat think she's playing at? Doesn't she know that she can't get away with anything like that? Morgana, what does she think she's playing at…"

Harry couldn't help but snicker at Ronnie's words. Rarely would she get so heated, unlike Ginny who always seemed a step or two away from a full-blown argument at all times. It was always Veronica that actually came to his aid, especially when the pair were getting bothered a lot by Hermione. Merlin, Hermione would only ever get off his back if Ronnie distracted the other girl, it was usually done by saying something stupid too.

"We can't tell anybody," Harry said finally, stopping them both. "Dumbledore, he can't do anything. He's basically said as much and Professor McGonagall, I don't want her to get in trouble for me. She's risked stuff before and that usually doesn't work, now does it?"

Ronnie huffed. "You're just gonna let her get away with it? Merlin, Harry, at least speak to the Twins, reckon they could figure out some way to get back at her," Ronnie snapped her fingers together as if she had a plan, her other arm throwing itself around his shoulders. "They talked about some new thing they can put in food, don't remember the name and don't really care, it was something stupid like it always was. Anyways, why don't we go and talk with them, yeah? They'd be game for a bit of toad-tricking, 'specially if it's to help you out and we don't even gotta tell them why for."

Harry smiled at Veronica and patted her on the shoulder. "It's fine, Ronnie, I can deal with it," he said, much to her visual displeasure. "Why don't we go and deal with Hermione now? I'll get you out of studying too, I always do."

Ronnie scrunched up her lips and pushed them to the right, but she nodded begrudgingly after a few more seconds passed them by. "I s'pose I can let it go… if you play chess with me tonight, least I''m owed for tryna keep a secret from 'Mione, right?"

"I guess so," Harry said as he rolled his eyes and started back towards the Gryffindor common room with Veronica at his side.

November 2, 1995


"Well, as far as first meetings go that coulda gone a whole lot worse," Ronnie said once the last of the newly formed 'Dumbledore's Army' members left.

"I guess it could've," Harry said, eyeing Hermione as she chased after a few of them with some weird coin-like things in her hands. "I wasn't really planning on teaching anybody though. Merlin knows I've already got my hands full with you."

Ronnie gasped as if she were offended and elbowed him in the side. "What's that s'pose to mean, you calling me fat, Potter?"

Harry turned to look at her as he rubbed at where she'd elbowed. Ronnie took after her mother a lot more than Ginny did, what with her larger, curvier figure and infinitely heftier chest. She looked just like he imagined a younger version of Mrs Weasley did.

"Nah, you're just a bit… plump," He eventually said, laughing when she grunted at him.

"I'll show you who's plump next practice, you dolt," Ronnie said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the door. "Now that 'Miones gone off and Morgana only knows when she'll come back for us, why don't we head to that Quidditch shop? Ya'know the one I'm talking bout, figure you and I owe it to each other."

"Why? Because we finally spent a couple of hours studying with Hermione in the library?" Harry asked, laughing and rubbing at the back of his hand thanks to the general soreness that often lingered.

"Blimey Harry, that still hurting you?" Ronnie asked, ignoring his studying comment as she practically wrestled his hand away from his side so that she could look at it. "We still oughta talk to somebody about this, toad-face can't keep doing this to you. Really, Harry, we could get the Twins to help. Maybe then she'd look like an actual toad with hair on top, be a funny sight, yeah?"

He couldn't help but snicker at the sight she put in his mind.

"Yeah, yeah I guess that'd be pretty funny," Harry said as he tapped on her two arms holding his. "Think I can get my arm back now, Ronnie?"

"Why? Don't like a witch holding it? Reckoned you woulda been happy having one finally touch you," Ronnie said, dropping his arm as she laughed and pulled on his arm again.

Harry flicked her nose with his free arm, enough so that she wrinkled that angry-looking nose. "You know, you should be lucky that the chosen one is letting you hold on to him as much as he is. I bet there's no shortage of pretty witches that'd love to be where you are," Harry made a thoughtful noise as Ronnie narrowed her eyes at him. "I think there's this one bird, Ginny's her name, sh—"

Ronnie grunted right before she elbowed him in the side again, this time a good deal harder than when she'd done it earlier. "Don't be talking bad about my little sister, else I'll have to pin you down like I did a couple years ago. You remember that dont'ya? Dean and Seamus can't have let you forget that time you lost to a witch."

"You had like five or ten kilos on me!" Harry said with a huff. "I could take you nowadays. I'm taller than you by an inch or two, stronger too. You wouldn't want to wrestle me nowadays since you know you'd lose, that's why you haven't done it."

Ronnie shook her head vehemently, poking at him with an annoying frequency. "You've gone and lost it, haven't you?" She said, poking him hard enough that he lost his balance and slipped on the ice, sliding a few feet into an alley; Ronnie being Ronnie, she chased after him so that she could keep up her poking. "Look at that, already on the ground just from my poking — some tough bloke you are, hu—"

Harry swiped at her leg, making her fall on the ground and unfortunately… directly on top of him. Maybe he should have thought to roll to the side one way or the other, better yet, maybe waiting until they were in the warm walls of Hogwarts was the smartest move he could have made. None of that really mattered though, not with her laying directly on top of him as she was.

"Morgana, Harry," Ronnie said as she sat atop him, her face only inches from his. "What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing, making me fall like that? Could've hurt my arm or arse, I could've!"

"Oh quit your whining, I'm the one that actually fell and could've got hurt," Harry said as he moved to get up, pressing himself firmly against a non-moving Ronnie. "You going to get up or what?"

Ronnie narrowed her eyes at him again, but this time, her cheeks were red and she refused to meet his eyes. "Think mum would kill me for what I'm about to do, ya'know."

Harry cocked his head. "Wha—"

Without warning, Veronica's face closed the distance as she pressed her lips unsurely against his. It took them both a few seconds of awkwardly looking into each other's eyes before they started moving their lips slowly, but once they did, it felt strangely natural.

"Bet I'm your first kiss, huh?" Ronnie asked, a smug expression on her face as she looked down at him.

"Bet I'm yours too," Harry fired back before glancing down at her figure. "You going to get off me now?"

Ronnie huffed, punched him in the shoulder and then stood up. "You're welcome, you stupid git," she said as she held out a hand and helped him up.

You're welcome too.

Harry nearly said it, but he didn't. Instead, he simply walked back to Hogwarts with his hand in hers for the first time. Like their kiss, it felt weirdly natural.