On Monday, Poppy found that her classes were all slightly larger than before.

In each; Charms, History of Magic (which she had with Cass and Esther), Care of Magical Creatures, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Muggle Studies, and Transfiguration; there were at least six new additions from the two schools.

In an effort to integrate the students, McGonagall and Flitwick set seating charts for at least the first month that the three schools would be learning together. That way, they proposed, the students would all have to get to know each other, and it might help with the language differences.

This didn't work too well though, as the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students remained mostly silent in their classes.

In History and Defence, Poppy found that nothing had changed - Binns and Moody didn't care enough to make anyone sit in a specific place. (Though Poppy thought that maybe Moody's distrust and dislike of the Durmstrang students – he'd made it clear that he hated Karkaroff - was to blame for his refusal to try and integrate his classes.)

In Charms, Poppy found herself sitting next to Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion. On more than one occasion over the next week, Fleur flicked her long silver-blonde hair onto Poppy's shoulder and Poppy had to slyly move to the left so that the hair could fall. (Though Poppy had to admit that she wouldn't have minded at all and might have used it as a chance to flirt with Fleur if she'd not been too busy thinking about Charlie all the time.)

They barely spoke to each other but Poppy would always smile and greet the girl, whose answer would be a nod. Poppy didn't know if Fleur looked at her much otherwise. So she kept her head down and worked hard (but more than once she got excited about a particular charm and would animatedly talk about the theory of it. This made her feel a little self conscious, what with the perfectly poised Beauxbatons students in the class, but she couldn't stop herself).

She wasn't so phased by Krum, who she had Defence Against the Dark Arts with. He tended to keep his head down too, and he and his friends barely spoke to her. Poppy's anxiety levels spiked during these classes though, and she wasn't sure if it was down to Moody's random shouts of ``CONSTANT VIGILANCE", the dark-arts-knowing new students, or a combination of both.

Care of Magical Creatures didn't need a seating plan since most of their lessons were outside anyway, and it was so physical that she only really spoke to the new students in grunts or rushed sentences since the work was tough and all-encompassing. No one seemed to mind – it was completely normal to them all to spend more time interacting with the animals than each other, whichever language they spoke. She was joined by three students from each school in this class, and she liked Care of Magical Creatures the most, as she didn't feel the same pressure to try and make friends while traversing the startlingly heavy workload.

A heavy workload which already had Poppy spending most of her free lessons and the occasional evening in the library or pitched up on one of the common room study tables to try and keep on top of her work so that she could have her weekends free.

So when Ginny found Poppy in the library one evening later that week working on her essay for the Gringotts job, having just finished her fifteen inch essay on Disillusionment charms, it wasn't a surprise.

"We're still friends, right?" Ginny asked, standing at the corner of Poppy's table.

Poppy finished her sentence and looked up, popping her quill into her ink pot. She frowned deeply and asked, "Sorry, do I know you?"

Ginny pursed her lips together and rolled her eyes, moving to sit across from her. "I'm serious. I bumped into Carter and she said you wouldn't want to talk to me. House pride and all that. I didn't believe her at first, but then I realised we haven't spoken since Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire so I thought I'd check to see if I need to give you an attitude adjustment or not."

Poppy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ginny, of course we're still friends. I feel bad for Harry, not jealous or mad. If Cedric's threatened by him, that's his issue. And I'm not avoiding you, I've just got so much to do. Percy wasn't joking when he said last year was the hardest, and I've got jobs on the brain too. I'm sorry but you'll just have to seek me out most of this year I think."

"I can do that," Ginny said, grinning. "How exhausted are you…?"

"I can help you," Poppy said with a laugh.

"Good. It's Muggle Studies. I'm writing my essay on electricity and I've done most of it but I think adding in some lived experience will help."

"I would've thought you'd ask Hermione for that?" Poppy asked, frowning down at her essay again.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "She'll go into weird detail about it. Can you explain to me why it's useful in… two inches?"

Poppy smiled and shook her head. "It's far too useful to Muggles to explain in only two… I remember writing half my essay on it in your year."

"Okay… what do they use it for then? You help me, and I'll tell you everything I know about… Gringotts?" Ginny asked, reading Poppy's parchment upside down.

They talked for over an hour until Hermione joined them, and by then Ginny's work was completed and Poppy's was almost done.

"Gringotts?" Hermione asked, sitting down beside Poppy, taking her Gringotts application form without asking. Poppy almost said something, but she chose not to. There was no point. "I thought you said you wouldn't like a desk job."

Poppy smiled. "It's an application to become a cataloguer. They go in after Curse Breakers and round up all of the treasure, bring it back to the office, and… well… catalogue it," Poppy said, shrugging.

"So you'd be out in the field?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe," Poppy replied. "It's only part-time though, so I'm not sure, and that's only if I get it."

By dinnertime, Poppy had finally finished her essay for Gringotts. Keen to not miss out on the job opportunity, she scoffed down a helping of steak stew and ran up to the Owlery. She picked a small-ish grey tawny for Gringotts – it looked the smartest of a rough bunch – and then a rather more robust looking brown owl for her letter to Charlie.

She felt bad sending such a short letter all the way to Romania, but hoped the owl wouldn't mind the journey too much.

As she watched the owls fly off into the distance, her eyes were drawn to a flash by the forest. It looked like fire, but then it was gone. Poppy stared out into the darkness for a while longer, waiting to see if it happened again, and when she did, she saw Hagrid illuminated, trying to wrangle a Blast-Ended Skrewt. She let out a quick laugh and then retreated back to the common room to finish off yet another essay, this time for Muggle Studies.

She was sitting at a table with Esther, Cass, and one of their fellow Hufflepuff seventh years, Jason, when a small voice asked, "Pop?"

Poppy turned around to see a young girl standing there, holding out a piece of parchment. She couldn't be bothered to correct the girl, so let the nickname slide.

"What's that?" Jason asked, peering over the table at the small parchment note in Poppy's hand.

"Summons from Sprout," she replied quietly as she read the note. "Career stuff."

"I've got mine tomorrow," Esther said, looking up from her book.

"Same," Poppy said, frowning.

Esther reached over to rub Poppy's arm kindly for a moment and then said, "You'd think they'd give us more notice. I'm going to have to make something up. So far the only thing I've applied to is an internship with the Department of Magical Transportation, and that's because my dad plays Gobstones with someone who works there. Sprout will probably be happy. Back in fifth year I said I wanted to be a famous singer!"

Jason groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Merlin. I'm only eighteen, I don't know what I want to do with my life!"

Poppy stayed quiet. She was focussed, yes, but she still worried what Professor Sprout would say to her ambitions which remained unchanged since they'd spoken in her fifth year. She was also worried that Sprout would tell her that she was actually failing all of her classes and would never get a job after school… She pursed her lips. Maybe she was being too hard on herself.

"Oh come off it," Cass said, rolling her eyes as she read Poppy's expression. "We'll be right as rain. Bet you a galleon Sprout just has a quick chat and sends us all on our way."

And in some ways she was right.

"You're still intending to apply to become an Auror?" Professor Sprout asked Poppy the next day.

Poppy had joined her in Greenhouse Three, where they were drinking mugs of tea and tending to a large lavender plant – Professor Sprout found that it was a very calming plant for chats like these, and Poppy appreciated being able to channel her nervous energy into tending to a plant while they spoke.

Poppy nodded and continued to snip the odd stalk, marvelling at the beautiful purple flowers – magical lavender flowered later than Muggle lavender, something which Poppy had always found slightly odd but nice nonetheless.

"Yes, very much so," she replied, narrowing her eyes at a stalk which jumped out of the way of her clippers. "I know it makes no sense since I'm a Muggleborn, but it's the only thing I've ever really wanted to do. I can't think of anything else which would be better."

She didn't say that before she'd known about magic, back when she was in primary school and knew only the Muggle world, she'd spent hours pretending she was a witch-cum-policewoman who 'investigated' random issues like, 'where did Daddy's watch go?' and 'where the the fairies in the garden disappear to?'

Her dad always said she had inherited her mother's imagination, but when she found out being an Auror was a profession? Well, it all clicked into place.

She also made sure to not ask Sprout the question which was always at the back of her mind; 'Could someone be born to be an Auror?'

"Good. I'm glad. I really do think you'd be a brilliant candidate," Sprout said, shocking Poppy. "Last time we spoke I suggested that you write to Nymphadora Tonks. Did you?"

"Yeah," Poppy said, grinning now, her pruning clippers discarded on the counter. "I did. She gave me as much information as she could about the process, told me how she prepared and what they look out for in candidates. She was really kind."

"But?" Sprout asked, leaning forwards on her stool when Poppy didn't continue.

Poppy's smile fell, and she sighed. "But I know they haven't recruited anyone since her."

"Yes," replied Sprout, picking up her mug. "It's extremely competitive, and I don't need to remind you that the character and aptitude entrance tests are some of the hardest outside of the Unspeakable programme… How are you feeling about those?"

"Pretty good... If I get to that stage I think my magic will be up to scratch. I'm doing quite well in Defence and it sounds boastful, but I know I'm good enough. The three years of additional study and training doesn't bother me either because if I was a Muggle I'd be going to university… I guess the only thing worrying me is that I'll mess up in a one-to-one interview," she said, grimacing. "I know I'll be putting a lot of pressure on myself if I get to that point and it might be my downfall…"

She also thought that her lack of help might be an issue as well - she didn't have any contacts in the Auror department who might be good to bounce practice questions off, as Tonks had said that she'd barely made it through the interview, and not to take her help for that bit.

"Yes, well, you have time to practise. You've looked up initial entrance dates?"

"Uh, yes. I'll need a letter of recommendation from someone close to me but not family. A teacher?" she asked, smiling when Sprout nodded. "And then I'm going to send my application in on the second of April. I think the opening's from the first to the fourteenth, but I want to get in there early and I don't want them to think it's an April Fool's joke… Then if I get through that stage I should go through the next set of tests in the summer, and then start training in September."

Sprout smiled. "Perfect. It sounds like you're on top of things then. I've spoken to your teachers and they all assure me that you're working to a high standard and on track to get your EE's at the very least. I wouldn't be shocked to hear you achieved all O's. Are you keeping up with any clubs? Are you making sure to spend your downtime on things you enjoy?"

"Uh… no," Poppy said, biting her lip as she wrung her hands together. "I uh… I stopped most of them this year. I go to Gobstones sometimes, but I've missed a few... But I'm trying to make friends and I'm focussing on putting a lot of my effort into studying."

"Yes, well, this year is hard enough as it is without the added pressure of having to watch your friend compete in a tournament…" Sprout replied, and Poppy grimaced.

She didn't know how to say that she wasn't too worried about Cedric… He just seemed to know what he was doing.

"Just try to make some time for yourself?" Sprout added. "Remember to enjoy yourself a bit. I know you're in a different place to your friends, what with your family situation and such, but as I've said before. Don't be afraid to have fun and make mistakes."

Poppy smiled and shrugged. She picked up the pruning shears again and turned the plant around, snipping another stalk away. "Do you think you'd be able to write my recommendation letter?" she asked, trying to get back to the point of their meeting – she felt uncomfortable whenever someone was kind and motherly to her – she wasn't used to the concern and while it was nice, it made her feel embarrassed more than anything else.

"Ah. Well, yes, normally I would, but as we have an ex-Auror on staff, I thought it might be prudent to ask if he would be willing to write it for you?" Sprout said, smiling kindly.

Poppy pursed her lips - she knew that Charlie had suggested this as well, but she still didn't know what to think about Moody. He'd been getting darker and darker in their classes and while on the one hand she was happy for the knowledge and was actively taking on board his advice of 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE,' there was something off about the look in his eyes when he'd placed each of them under the Imperius Curse at the start of the year… and when she'd found out he'd done the same to the younger years in their classes, she'd had to hold herself back from saying something to him – her year group were adults and could consent to such a mental and unforgivable intrusion, the younger students could not.

"Do I have to?" she asked quietly, shaking her head slightly.

"If you're worried that the Ministry won't take a letter from him seriously, I wouldn't be," Sprout replied, misreading the situation. "Although he's had his run-ins of late, he's proving himself to be a rather excellent teacher and for the Auror Department, a recommendation from Alastor Moody will mean a lot. He comes from a long line of fantastic Aurors, and he was a key force in winning the Wizarding war."

Poppy nodded again and sighed. She still had months until she needed the letter… she could come to trust him by then.

"Do you have any back up plans?" Sprout asked, lifting her mug of tea to her lips. "I don't want to think negatively, but sometimes it is best to have another option in mind."

Poppy explained about the Sanctuary and Gringotts, and Sprout's eyes widened and she sat forwards in her chair. "Poppy, I must say, I'm extremely impressed. Do you know which role you'd prefer?"

"Romania, definitely. The job's more admin based and not in the field, but it looks really fun and I know someone who works there. Gringotts would be cool as well, but it's only part time and I think it's based in London. Not quite as exciting since I live there already!"

"Well, if you don't have a job straight out of Hogwarts it won't be because you didn't try. I can't see how you wouldn't be very well received wherever you go," Sprout said, smiling kindly. Poppy hid her face and heard Sprout let out a small laugh. "Well, that all sounds brilliant. Well done, Poppy. Well done. Do keep me informed, won't you?"

"Of course, Professor."

Poppy left her meeting feeling even better about her position, and hopeful that she wouldn't have to resort to working double shifts to make ends meet again.

Around a week and a half later, Poppy bumped into Fred and George on her way to breakfast. They were sitting on one of the benches, waiting for the doors to the Great Hall to open, and they were poring over a piece of parchment. Fred was whispering urgently, but George shook his head at his words and tapped the edge of his quill against his chin before he began to write.

Poppy's school shoes clacked against the stone floor, announcing her presence, and when Fred and George saw her they did a double take. George pocketed their work while Fred glared and crossed his arms.

"Can't believe you're wearing one of those," Fred said, pointing at her lapel where she had a bright pink badge.

"Thought you'd be at least impartial," George added, shaking his head as he and his brother stood, taking their bags with them as they walked towards her.

Poppy stopped and looked down at her badge, frowning. "What's wrong with it?" she asked, reading the text upside down: 'ESTHER'S 18 TODAY!'

For the first time in a while, Poppy found Fred speechless.

"Oh, well… reckon we owe you an apology there, Pops," George said, rubbing the back of his neck. "We thought you had a 'Potter Stinks' badge on."

Poppy scoffed and smiled at the two men. "Blame Cass. She had to repurpose some badges because she forgot to get the balloons for Esther's birthday. But… objectively, Harry does stink sometimes. I definitely recall after your summer quidditch games you all did," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the memory. Though she felt her cheeks heat up when she thought of Charlie, who actually looked quite good after a workout.

George cleared his throat and Poppy blinked, then said, "But that doesn't mean I'm taking part in all this. How's Harry doing anyway?"

"Well, he's not done anything really wrong yet so we're taking that as a positive," Fred said, smiling.

"Very proud, we are," added George, stepping towards the now open Great Hall doors. "And extremely happy it's not Percy. Merlin. If he'd been at school and got it I don't think we'd have heard the end of it."

Poppy stayed silent, but agreed with them completely. Percy would've been insufferable.

"Come on," Fred said, grabbing her arm when she made a beeline for the Hufflepuff table. "Dumbledore said this year's all about magical cooperation. Sit with us."

"You actually listened to his speech?" she asked, putting her bag down and stepping over the bench to sit at the Gryffindor table.

"Partially," George replied, winking. "Now, we reckon you know a load of Hufflepuffs…"

"I am a Hufflepuff, so that's highly likely," she said with a laugh, reaching forwards to take some crispy bacon from the serving plate in front of her.

"Can you get them to stop… you know…" George asked, gesturing vaguely.

"Glaring and mocking Harry? Wearing horrid badges? Being generally bitchy?" she asked.

George nodded and Fred watched her as he bit into a piece of crispy bacon. They seemed more serious than Poppy had seen them in a while.

"No, sorry, no can do," she said, clicking her tongue. "I've managed to stop Esther from glaring at him openly in the corridors but that's about it. Cedric's friends aren't really talking to me because I'm impartial, which means Cass is having to go between groups at the moment as it is. I think it'll just make it worse if I meddle and I honestly don't have the time."

"Well, that's fair enough," George replied, but Fred stayed quiet. "Don't tell Harry we told you but Mum's beside herself with worry," he added in a whisper.

Poppy smiled sadly even though she knew there was no way she'd happen to find herself in such a conversation with Harry. Since she'd spoken to him at the lake they'd barely seen each other or interacted other than her sending him pained smiles and friendly waves.

"Well, her worry might be well founded. He seems to be feeling the pressure," she said with a huff of a laugh. "Apparently he shouted at Cho Chang the other day. Very out of character for him I think…"

Fred and George roared with laughter.

"Brilliant," Fred replied, shaking his head, still laughing. "The kid's got no game."

"Can I ask you both something?" she asked slowly, watching their expressions closely.

"Shoot," Fred said through a mouthful of scrambled egg.

Poppy placed her elbows on the table and leant forwards, keeping her voice low. "It wasn't you two, was it? Who put Harry's name in?"

George grimaced, but Fred let out a laugh. "Definitely not. If we'd worked out how to fool the goblet we'd've been shouting it from the rooftops by now."

Poppy sighed and nodded dejectedly. "I just thought I'd ask…"

"You're not an Auror yet, Jacobs," Fred joked. "You don't have to get to the bottom of this. Just enjoy the entertainment, eh?"

Poppy stayed at the Gryffindor table with Fred and George until her Hufflepuff friends arrived in the hall, then she grabbed her bag, hopped over the bench, and moved to sit at her own table before they could have a go at her for switching sides.

As she sat down she made eye contact with Fleur Delacour, who threw her silvery-blonde hair over her shoulder, raised an eyebrow, and then turned back to her friends.

"She still thinks I'm weird," Poppy complained, letting her shoulders drop. "She barely speaks to me during Charms, even when I try to speak French!"

"At least you've spoken to her," Esther replied, looking over her shoulder at Fleur. "She's like a walking star. I wish I was her..."

"Don't forget, stars are actually balls of fire," Cass said, stuffing sausages into a bread roll. "They're shiny, but they'll burn you."

"Is that true?" Esther asked Poppy.

Sometimes, Poppy forgot that Esther was a Pure-Blooded witch and so didn't know about science as the Muggles did. She shrugged and replied, "Partially. It's a bit more complex."

"I wish my parents had made me take your Muggle tests as well," Esther said, frowning. "They sound so much more interesting than what we learnt for Muggle Studies."

Poppy scoffed and shook her head. She wanted to say, 'My dad made me take five GCSEs just after my OWLs because he wanted to Muggle-proof me in the hope I'd give up magic,' but she didn't. Instead, she said, "Trust me, it was a long, hard summer. Definitely not worth the stress."

"I'm so glad Ma's a Muggle-born. I can get all the knowledge with none of the 'you need to have a non-magical back-up malarkey," Cass added with a relieved smile. "Ooh! Post," she announced, placing her half eaten roll onto her plate and wiping her hands on her napkin. Cass' parents sent her regular parcels filled with sweets or supplies, and she looked forward to every post in case she got something.

This morning, Cass' post wasn't a nice parcel filled with chocolates, but a roll of parchment – the Daily Prophet. Cass grumbled but unfolded the paper so that all three of the witches could read while her light grey owl ducked its head into her goblet of orange juice.

"Time to admit you're wrong about Potter?" Cass asked, frowning down at the photo on the front cover of the paper.

It was of Harry, and it looked as though the other champions had been cropped out of the image. You could see a small slither of Fleur's hair moving effortlessly in black and white, what looked like Cedric's hand, and potentially Krum's foot.

"I'm just saying, he's only fourteen," Poppy replied defiantly.

"Fine, agree to disagree again," Cass snapped, but Poppy knew that that meant she didn't want to argue, and that their friendship was okay.

Though as they continued to read, Poppy realised she wasn't going to get anyone onto Harry's side any time soon – the article barely mentioned Fleur or Krum and misspelt their names, and didn't mention Cedric at all. She spent the rest of breakfast just as angry as her Hufflepuff housemates, except her anger was directed at Rita Skeeter, not so much at Harry.

When the bell rang, she said a quick goodbye and ran off towards Charms, grabbing a space next to a boy in blue robes, since Flitwick had said that their seating plan wouldn't be in place from this week onwards.

The Beauxbatons student's slicked back blonde hair reminded her of some of the Slytherin lot, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt, and found that he was nice enough when she asked him to budge his quills over a bit.

"Excuse me, could you move?" Fleur asked, her voice soft but heavily accented. She was standing next to Poppy and looking down at her.

Poppy frowned up at her and then down at the table. Her blood rushed in her ears, but she stood anyway. It would make sense that Fleur would want to sit next to another Beauxbatons student, but Poppy felt a little hurt that she'd decided to embarrass Poppy like this.

"Merci," Fleur said, moving to sit down in the empty middle seat between Poppy and the Beauxbatons boy while Poppy began to move her things. "Whair are you going?" Fleur asked. "We sit togezer in Charms do we not?"

"Oh, well, it's… it's not an assigned seating plan anymore," Poppy said awkwardly. "I assumed you'd want me to move."

"Oh," Fleur replied. "Non, I like seeting next to you, you are… er… comment dit-on gentille et énergique en anglais?" she asked the boy next to her.

"Er… Mathieu?" he asked, turning around. "Gentille et énergique en anglais?"

"Er…" came the response from the handsome brown haired boy who was sitting towards the back of the room. He seemed distracted – he had his arm on the backrest of the chair of the giggling girl next to him, and it looked as though he had been in the middle of writing something on her parchment. "Quoi?"

Fleur made a noise and then shook her head, turning back to Poppy. "Er… you are énergique like… er…"

"Une petite chiot?" the boy next to them asked, screwing his face up.

"Oui, cimer," Fleur said, and then she smirked and raised an eyebrow, watching Poppy as she said, "avoir du chien aussi, Pierre?"

"Oui, oui," the boy quipped quickly, turning a little pink at the ears, "absolument."

Poppy, who had taken out her French to English dictionary, frowned and tried to figure out what they were saying. Her jaw clenched when she worked out what chien meant, and she stood again, packing up her things, her eyes brimming with tears.

"What is wrong? Whair are you going?" Fleur asked again.

"You just called me a dog. I'm not going to stick around after- what?" she asked, as Fleur beamed up at her, and the boy next to her began to laugh.

"I show you?" Fleur asked, pointing at the dictionary. Poppy nodded, and a few seconds later, Fleur said, "see 'ere? Er… you are like a er… a poo-pee?" she said, pointing at 'puppy', "you are er… 'yper… oui, ç'est bonne. Aussi… er… " she said, turning the pages again, finally pointing at a line towards the end of the book. "Avoir un chien."

Poppy frowned, but looked down at the phrase, which translated as; to be desirable, to have a certain something, to be a fox; compliment. Charlie, in red ink, had added: basically means hot. Probably not appropriate as a morning greeting.

"Oh…" Poppy said, feeling her cheeks heat up from embarrassment and in response to the compliment. "Merci beaucoup," she added, avoiding Fleur's eye.

"Mer-see," corrected Fleur and Pierre at the same time.

"Mer-see!" called Mathieu from the back.

"Oui, oui, mer-see Mathieu," Poppy called back in an odd display of sarcastic defiance, taking care to try and accent each word properly. It was one thing for Pierre and Fleur to call her out on her pronunciation when they were in front of her, but he was in the back of the class.

Fleur snorted and began to laugh, Pierre chuckled, and Mathieu shook his head, whispering something under his breath.

Poppy sat down again when Professor Flitwick walked into the room, and sent Fleur a small smile. It wasn't returned now that Flitwick was there, but Fleur nodded at her nonetheless, and as Flitwick began to teach, Poppy wondered if she'd completely misread Fleur… Then, she remembered what Charlie's letter had said - that the Beauxbatons students were all nice once you got past their… how did he put it? Mildly horrified exterior?

She held in her groan. She'd been warned, but hadn't listened, and now had wasted three weeks of schooling avoiding Fleur as much as possible outside of classes because she assumed the French girl thought she was odd.

After this incident, Poppy viewed her interactions with Fleur through another more positive lense, and when Fleur next raised an eyebrow at her across the house tables, Poppy raised one back and received a stunning smile from the Beauxbatons student.