Chapter 10

"Are you sure you're okay?" Harry asked worriedly as Mattie stood up and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"Yeah ... it's just going to take me a while to get used to the idea of him being ... MIA. It's hard, you know, I lost everyone else and now him." Surprisingly, Mattie seemed completely composed as she said this. Hermione and Ron exchanged nervous glances and Harry just stared at Mattie with a worried expression. "Harry please, don't worry."

"Yeah, come on let's go get a butterbeer."

"You guys go on ahead, we'll meet you there in a little while." Mattie managed a weak smile as Ron and Hermione started back towards Hogsmeade, understanding that Harry and Mattie wanted to talk, alone.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mattie hesitated as she sat back down next to Harry. She felt a wave of comfort as Harry wrapped his arms around her.

"Not really, no. But I can't keep doing this ... I have to start moving on."

"No, you don't. No one expects you to just be able to get over losing the only link to your parents in the blink of an eye." Mattie smiled despite herself; Harry really did understand how she felt. "But one thing I don't understand, is how knowing about your family would put all of us in danger." Mattie's smile faded.

"Harry ... he's hunting me. He wants our entire family dead ... he won't hesitate to torture or kill those close to us to get information."

"Oh, Mattie listen, I would ... bloody hell we all would die before giving him any information on you. I promise." Harry's mind flooded with thoughts of Peter Petigrew. He clenched his fists subconsciously.

"Thanks Harry." But she didn't sound too confident about it; she knew what methods Voldemort had at his disposal. "Come on, let's go get a butterbeer." Mattie smiled half-heartedly and, standing up, took Harry's hand.

The Three Broomsticks

"Harry! Mattie! Over here!" Ron waved them over to a booth at which he, Hermione, Ginny, and Dean Thomas were sitting. As they passed the bar, Harry caught Madame Rosmerta's attention and ordered two butterbeers. Then, they went to sit down with their friends.

"What's wrong with Malfoy? He keeps shooting scared glances at us ... Harry what did you do to him?" Ginny sounded remarkably like a mix between Hermione and Mrs. Weasley, so much so that it was a tad bit scary.

"Geez Ginny! Why is it always me?!" Harry asked in mock exasperation.

"You're the only one he takes seriously enough to look like that." Ginny pointed to Malfoy who was staring at their table, looking even more pale than usual. He quickly turned around and became very interested in staring at the table.

"Actually, Mattie threatened to castrate him." Ginny snorted into her drink and she, Hermione, and Mattie started laughing loudly. Ron, Harry, and Dean just rolled their eyes.

"Oh, come on! You have to admit that is pretty funny."

"That's just ... well it's just not done! That's like ..." Dean swallowed "forbidden territory!" The guys shook their heads in dismay as the girls started laughing again.

The Gryffindor Table

"No, we've got this new play I thought we could try and ..." Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to Mattie. Ron and Harry were completely engrossed in a conversation about Quidditch.

"I think they'd keel over and die if anyone made them stop talking about Quidditch for a day." Mattie and Hermione laughed; Ron and Harry glanced at them, but continued to talk.

"Come on, you two. We'll be late for Divination if we don't leave now." Harry and Ron sighed exasperatedly but finished up their breakfast and got up from the table. The four of them started out of the Great Hall.

"Does that mean they found her?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, Harry, they found her after dinner yesterday, still wandering around. She was mumbling about the Sirius star." Hermione, Ron, and Harry exchanged worried glances at the mention of the star. Luckily, Mattie didn't notice and they all proceeded to Divination. The class should have passed without incident, but since when did anything ever go like it should?

Five minutes into class, Professor Trelawney let out a shriek. She had been hovering over Hermione as she worked with a Crystal Ball. Ron, who was seating across from Hermione, cringed and screwed up his face at the ear-piercing noise. "The grim! It has returned and brought a dark shadow with it! The strangest part is; it is direct correlation with the Sirius star's reappearing." Hermione, Ron, and Harry now exchanged extremely worried looks. Mattie took a deep breath and stared at the table. Luckily, Mattie hadn't noticed the looks shared by her three friends, and her three friends hadn't noticed her worried stares at the table.

Gryffindor Common Room

"Hey you." Harry smiled as he flopped down next to Mattie on the couch, and kissed her.

"Hi." Mattie snuggled closer to Harry, but continued to read her book.

"What're you reading?" Mattie blushed and quickly tucked the book away, not letting Harry get a glimpse at the title.

"Nothing, just some background stuff for ... why don't we play some Wizard's Chess or something?"

"Umm ok ... why do we go flying for a bit? It's really nice outside." Harry waved his hand at the window; the sun was starting to go down. Mattie smiled and stood up.

"Sure!" Harry smiled and he and Mattie started out of the Common Room, hand in hand.

"Ron?"

"Hmm?" Ron was making a desperate attempt at writing his Transfiguration essay, but it wasn't going to well.

"Remember in first year ... what you said ... that made me end up in the Girl's Bathroom when the troll came in?" Ron looked up from his essay immediately and cast Hermione a worried glance.

"Yeah ..." he trailed off hesitantly.

"I thought you said you'd liked me since the train?" Hermione was still staring, absentmindedly, at the fire.

"Well ... I ... umm."

"Ron." Hermione turned and looked him in the eye; he sighed defeated.

"I didn't want to admit it ... I thought if you hated me it would make it all the easier for me to say I didn't like you." Ron stared at the ground sheepishly. Hermione made an 'aww' sound as she got up and walked over to Ron. She sat down on his lap and kissed him thoroughly, Ron reflexively wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You're so sweet." Ron squeezed her as she ruffled his hair. "You're a git sometimes, but sweet nonetheless." Ron rolled his eyes and laughed.

"I never did get to thank Harry and Mattie for that plan of theirs."

"I know! I don't understand how they kept it hidden from both of us for all that time." Hermione laughed and shook her head. "Let's go for a walk Ron!" Hermione stood up and smiled excitedly at her boyfriend.

"I have this essay ... wait, weren't you the one just lecturing me about finishing it 15 minutes ago?" She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'll help you finish when we get back, let's go for a walk. Please?!"

"Hey, you don't have to ask me twice." Ron gratefully threw down his quill and grabbed Hermione's hand as they started for the portrait hole. "So you're going home for Christmas?" (A/N: I know it seems like Halloween was just yesterday ... but it's really almost the end of November, just work with the messed up timing, apologizes emphatically)

"Yeah ... Mum's family is coming in." Hermione sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair.

"That bad, eh?"

"Besides the fact that none of them know about my being a witch, my cousin is so bloody ... horrible!" Ron wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist; they were walking towards the Astronomy Tower.

"Why don't you come and stay with us? Or better yet, why don't I come over and tell her off for you?" Hermione laughed and shook her head.

"I'd love to, really, but my Dad's a bit ... you know ... especially with us being an item now." Hermione smiled; she loved saying that almost as much as she loved hearing it. "You could come over though, my cousin would flip!"

"Or, I could just kidnap you and force you to spend Christmas at The Burrow." Ron laughed in a mock evil way as Hermione smacked his arm.

"Ronald Weasley, you wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?" Ron wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as Hermione rolled her eyes.

Quidditch Field

"So I wanna know which famous Quidditch star is your parent? That talent's gotta be genetic." Harry immediately cringed, wanting instantly to take back what he just said. Honestly though, Mattie was bloody brilliant. She was better than some professional chasers!

"It's okay, Harry. Supposedly, my dad was one of the best Chasers of his time." She smiled proudly as she deftly tossed the Quaffle around, doing some rather impressive flying maneuvers to catch it.

"But I wonder, was he as good as you?" Harry raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Well you've got your Mum's talents and your Dad's talents, right?" Mattie burst out laughing.

"My Mum was possibly the worst flyer in the entire history of the world! She never stayed on her broom for more than 30 seconds!" Harry smirked as Mattie continued to laugh. "No, no. I got my brains from my Mum I guess."

"Yeah, me too, but I think I got jipped. I mean, I obviously didn't get my entire fair share of smarts. She was bloody brilliant, and then there's the average me." Mattie rolled her eyes and threw the Quaffle at Harry. He caught it with an 'oof'.

"You're not average! Just because we're all not insanely brilliant like Lily Potter or Hermione Granger doesn't make us average!" Harry laughed as he and Mattie flew back to the ground.

"I've never heard you talk about your parents before."

"Yeah ... kind of a sore subject you know? Wait, of course you know." Mattie laughed nervously but Harry grabbed her hand reassuringly.

"What happened to them?"

"They died when I was a baby ... Voldemort." Mattie sniffed slightly.

"I'm sorry." Harry stopped walking and pulled Mattie into a tight hug. She pulled away, smiling, and kissed him.

"I owe you."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as they started walking towards the school again.

"For this past week ... cheering me up and stuff."

"Mattie, you do not owe me! That's what friends ..." Harry chuckled, "and boyfriends are for."

"Yeah well, I still owe you."

"You owe me nothing! Come on, let's go get some hot chocolate from the kitchen elves." Harry pulled Mattie off towards the kitchen, both of the smiling.

A/N: That conversation about owing someone for cheering you up, is dedicated to my best guy friend because I really do owe him! Haha, ok, moving on! I'm so so so so sorry for taking so long to update! I've been at a semi-dead end and I just couldn't make myself write it! Anywho, it's here now and I hope you all like it! I've really sped things up in terms of timing. The next part will take several chapters, so we'll be back to the timing from the beginning of the fic. How was it? Shitty? Horrible? You tell me! Kind of hurt that I have no reviews for Chapter 9 ... WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! REVIEW DAMN IT!