The rest of Lydia's second year at Hogwarts was marred only by a patch of dreams she had. She could not remember them but they left her with an unsettled feeling for hours afterwards. Sophie's hair became as beautiful as ever. This was in spite of quidditch practice in all kinds of weather and her suffering from abdominal cramps from time to time. Freddie was as 'Freddie' as always and Teddy Lupin was a friend again, though no longer a confidant.
Dev Parekh, the Gryffindor Lydia had met on her visit before joining the school, started to sit with them in the common room. He was a friend of Sophie's from her first days at the school. The full story never came out, but Dev had helped Sophie when she was being bullied by the other first-years. Dev was now top of the class in the third-year. He had always been academically good with any subject that held his interest and now that his wandwork had caught up he was unstoppable. Also, after half a year into his O.W.L. Arithmancy course, Professor Brandon was giving him tuition on the fourth-year syllabus.
Dev was nervous around people he did not know well. It was brave of him to join the, usually quite large, group Lydia and friends had become. But he knew Lydia and Sophie. On their recommendation the others accepted him without question. Sophie's cat, Elsa, rarely paid attention to anyone, except Sophie and Xander. She liked Dev, though. As Xander would lie in Oddy's lap, Elsa would lie in Dev's. Dev and Oddy had got on well from the start. Dean called Dev an 'honorary Ravenclaw' because of his outstanding academic prowess. Oddy gave Dev the ultimate accolade when he said that talking with Dev was as good as reading a book! Only Xander, and possibly Dean, were quite so high in Oddy's estimation.
Lydia and Tina met Freddie in the courtyard one Sunday morning. Lydia was going down to the loch to swim with the giant squid.
"No Sophie, today?" Freddie asked.
"No, she's not feeling well," Lydia explained. "She's gone back to bed, I think. Anyway, I've brought Tina along instead, so you'll still have someone to annoy while I'm swimming."
Freddie grinned at Tina. "Great! I'll be gentle with you, seeing it's your first time."
Tina blushed.
"Y'know," said Freddie as they were on their way down to the loch. "I'm a bit worried about Sophie. She's been unwell a lot this year. It's every few weeks."
Tina looked at Lydia, then turned to Freddie. "Haven't you noticed? It's the same time every month."
Tina looked at him with her eyebrows raised, as though waiting for him to make a connection.
Freddie gasped. "You mean… she's a werewolf?!"
Tina giggled.
Lydia sighed. "No, you complete… flannel. She's a woman."
Freddie wore a puzzled frown as they carried on walking.
He stopped on the spot. "Ohh. Oh, you mean… Eww. I mean not 'eww' it's just natural and I shouldn't say 'eww' but… well, eww."
Lydia scowled at him. "Watch it , Fortescue. You're outnumbered by girls. Be very careful what you say."
Freddie set off walking again and raised his arms. "Doesn't the lake look pretty this morning?"
Tina grinned at Lydia. "He's so sweet, though."
Lydia rolled her eyes. She never had these problems with the giant squid.
As the academic year steamed on towards exam time, the second-year students gained an extra burden. They had to decide which elective classes to take leading towards the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams at the end of their fifth year. There was a general feeling that this was some form of ridiculous punishment. How were they to know which courses they would be good at, or find interesting, or be able to pass an exam in so many years from now? They were at a time in their lives when things were changing and they were changing too.
One choice seemed essential to Lydia. She had to take Care of Magical Creatures. She loved animals and she liked Hagrid. She had never forgotten her time with the unicorns. She would suggest it to Freddie. He would love it and he would get on well with Hagrid. They were alike. Hagrid was a huge hairy Freddie, or Freddie was a sweet little gay Hagrid. That thought gave her a little shock. Did she think Freddie was gay? Did it matter? Could she love him any more or any less because of one little word? No. Only Freddie should say what he was. To her, he would always be Freddie. Where was she? Oh, yes. Would Sophie want to take Magical Creatures, or CoMaC as the students called it, with them? She hoped so, but she would not want her to take a class she did not need and miss out on something else.
The three of them got together to choose their 'elective' subjects. They decided there was a real chance of the numbers being small enough for some subjects to have all the houses together in one class. That would be the case for Lydia's preference, CoMaC. People liked Hagrid but he was not regarded as a 'proper' professor. Lydia loved animals too much not to take Magical Creatures. Freddie had a desire to take Divination, which was more popular. Many girls were fascinated by the subject; many boys thought it was an easy option. Freddie was with the girls on this one, but sincerely hoped the boys were right, too. Sophie wanted to take Ancient Runes with Professor Rankin, though she could not say why. Lydia was happy to go along with that choice. She had admired the research Draco and Hermione had been able to do because of their ability to read ancient texts. She had even learned a few things from Draco.
They only needed two elective subjects but they decided to apply for the same three together. These were Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Ancient Runes. Sophie was unsure about Divination but felt she could drop it if it did not suit her. Freddie was unsure about Runes but liked Professor Hugo Rankin because he looked 'utterly mad'. They duly signed up for the courses and waited to find out how the timetables would work out.
By the end of term they knew they had been accepted on the courses. Despite the applications for Divination meaning that two classes would be run, they had all got into the same class together. The classes were not split on house lines. Lydia suspected that there had been some help from McGonagall to keep them together. All three of them would be taking Divination with Sybil Trelawney. Oddy got his choices of Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. He was told he could not take any N.E.W.T. subjects as he needed to have performed all the practical coursework and tests in the core subjects first. He had wanted to take Alchemy, but it depended on O.W.L. results in Charms and Potions. He would have to think of another subject to take.
At the End of Year feast, McGonagall announced that the House Cup was going again to Hufflepuff. Once again, they won by a narrow margin over Ravenclaw. Freddie was delighted. The Quidditch Cup went to Gryffindor, who had won every match by a large margin. The combination of the two best chasers in the school and the best seeker, supported by other good players, was unbeatable. Slytherin came second, slightly ahead of Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff had fallen from the previous heights they had enjoyed under captain Llinos Pritchard. She was now leading the Holyhead Harpies at the top of the professional league.
The Top Student of each year awards included Dev Parekh and Odysseus Anderson once again. Nobody was surprised. As other announcements were made, Lydia thought about the work she had done with Draco. Professor Malfoy had been constantly impressed with her work. She had reached a level where she was starting to grasp that she had, and could control, abilities that not even adult witches and wizards had. The one frustration she had was that she could not repeat the occasional 'insights' she had had into the paths the near future might take. Being able to see ahead like that, on demand, would be amazing, she had thought. Draco had warned that it might prove a blessing and a curse. They had talked about this at some length and Lydia had come out of the discussion with a feeling of dread.
They took the Hogwarts Express the following morning and were picked up by Uncle Ambrose. Sophie and Freddie were going to stay at Lydia's house all summer. Their families would visit whenever they were free. Nana Inkwood was already there, Ambrose told them, as she was as free as the wind. The motorcar was parked in a no-parking space once again. It was untroubled by parking tickets, once again. On their way home they stopped to pick up Selina, Sophie's mum, from her work at a hospice. As they arrived at the Old Rectory, Freddie's parents were arriving via the living room fireplace.
Lydia stepped onto Freddie's trampoline that evening and felt her heart swell with love and happiness. With great friends and good times these were days she would remember all her life.
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