Author's Note: Happy Thursday! :)

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I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or anything else resembling what J.K Rowling introduced us all to. Just the plot and OC are mine.


Chapter 33

Avalynn's eyes roved over the parchment in front of her, looking for sentences that needed revision in her History of Magic essay. A stifled giggle drew her attention and her gaze flicked over to Benedict and his friends who had once again joined her for a study session with Severus and Regulus. They had needed to push two tables together to have enough room for the six of them, and thankfully they still had another empty spot for Barty when he arrived shortly after they had settled in. A small smile broke out on her face as she watched the first-year Slytherins laughing before she gently nudged Benedict's shoulder with hers.

"Focus," she chided, making eye contact with each of the eleven-year olds.

"Yes, ma'am," Benedict said before ducking his head and placing his hands on the side of his face as if they were blinders.

She laughed and poked his side with her elbow.

He peeked from between his fingers at her.

"Please don't call me ma'am. It makes me feel super old," she told him while scrunching up her nose.

A giggle escaped from his mouth. "You are old, Ava."

She shook her head as she chuckled and reached out to ruffle his hair. "I'll show you old, you little punk." When the boy immediately scowled and attempted to right his disturbed locks, Ava leaned back in her seat with a satisfied smile. She caught Severus rolling his eyes before he silently resumed his own work. Her eyes moved over to Barty, once again noticing conflicting emotions playing out across his face. He seemed to be at war with himself, alternating between confusion and something that she might've mistaken for longing as he watched her interact with Benedict.

Barty had been slowly coming out of his shell around her, and she walked a very thin tightrope to keep their friendship progressing positively, afraid that he would dart back into himself without hesitation if she crossed an invisible line. Ava had kept her distance, physically speaking, because the younger Slytherin didn't seem to want anyone to touch him, but now she thought to herself that maybe it was just because he wasn't used to it. This reasoning solidified in her mind as she kept an eye on Barty while wrapping up Benedict in a goodbye hug. While giving the first-year a parting show of affection, Barty watched on curiously, his quill coming to a stop. She could've sworn that a glimpse of sadness shimmered in his dark brown eyes before he shook his head and returned to scanning a book for information.

Well, shit, she thought to herself, stepping back from Benedict. I can't just shower the other kids with affection and leave Barty out. I'm trying to keep him away from the Death Eaters, not push him into their open arms. Once the first-years disappeared around the corner, she swiveled back to their study table. Regulus and Severus were whispering to each other, the older student seemingly pointing out something on Regulus's parchment. Ava glanced at Barty and plopped herself down in the now empty seat beside him.

It was obvious that his entire body froze the moment she sat, so in an effort to distract him, she asked, "How's it going?"

"Just fine."

She turned to look at him, briefly noting how still he was holding himself, before she dropped her eyes to his homework. "Do you have any questions about this? Looks like you're writing about Boggarts." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him nod. Reaching out slowly, she asked, "Can I take a look?"

He silently placed the essay in her hand.

After a couple minutes, Ava set down the parchment and cautiously lifted her hand to pat Barty's shoulder. "It looks great." He visibly flinched at her touch, and from her angle, she could see his face and neck redden in embarrassment. Not wanting to draw further attention to his reaction, she said, "I don't know if you were planning on mentioning it, but if you eat chocolate after an encounter with a Boggart, you'll feel better."

His rigid body relaxed and he turned to her with slightly wide eyes. "Is that true?"

She smiled. "Of course it is. I wouldn't have told you wrong information."

The corners of his mouth lifted minutely before he nodded. "Thanks." His quill flashed across the page as he continued with his essay.

Ava pulled her own parchment and books from across the table, deciding to remain next to Barty. A few minutes later, she peeked over to check on his progress and spotted a minor spelling error. Keeping her movements slow, she reached out and tapped the incorrect word. Her arm brushed against Barty's, resulting in another flinch. However, this time he hadn't turned into stone at her touch, but leaned forward to get a better look at where her finger was pointing.

"Oh," he whispered before turning to her with a small smile. "Thank you again." After correcting the word he returned his gaze to her with furrowed brows. "I'm not sure what I can offer you in return."

Ava frowned. "What?" After a beat, it came to her. "Nope. I don't want anything," she said with a shake of her head. "I'm just helping you with homework. That's what friends do."

His eyes widened, looking between her and the other Slytherins at the table who had remained quiet this whole time. "But—but," he began.

Regulus held up a hand with a grin. "Don't bother questioning it Barty. This is just how Ava is. I assume it's a Gryffindor trait." He tilted his head as if in deep thought. "But it could very well be something unique to Ava."

She huffed and narrowed her eyes. "There are most definitely other Gryffindors who would help their friends too, Regulus. Not to mention anyone else in the other Houses." Glancing over at the younger Slytherin, she gently pushed her shoulder against his, drawing his attention.

He startled, but looked at her expectantly.

She leaned towards him and stage whispered, "Don't listen to him Barty, he's just jealous because I never help him."

Even though he slouched in his seat, seemingly trying to put some distance between the two of them, his body relaxed after her comment.

Regulus scoffed. "I don't need your help."

Ava raised her eyebrows while looking at Barty. "See what I mean?" She huffed out a chuckle at the resulting pout from Regulus and glanced back to the boy next to her, who was now sporting a wide, amused grin. Good, she thought, tickled pink that she was able to bring such a happy look to Barty's face.

He relaxed in his seat and continued working.

She decided not to push him too much that day, and kept her limbs to herself but stayed in her seat, close to him. Ava was hoping to gradually work her way up to a full blown hug with the kid before the week was out. Several minutes later, Barty packed up his stuff and parted from the library.

Without a friendly hug, she thought with a sigh. Turning back to her table-mates, Ava caught Severus and Regulus eyeing her. With a roll of her eyes, she cast Muffliato. "What?"

Severus raised a single brow. "You were awfully…touchy with Barty."

"Pfft. C'mon, guys. He needs some sort of affection. He's practically starving for it."

"Be careful, Ava, or you'll have a young boy infatuated with his tutor," Regulus teased.

She waved him off. "I'm like that with Benedict and you don't see him walking around with a crush on me."

Severus chuckled. "That's because the little snake is far beyond a simple crush. He hero worships you."

"What are you talking about?"

"The other night in the common room, he stood up for you to some first and second-year students that insulted you for being a half-blood. The boy claimed that your blood shouldn't matter when your words and actions were the trait of a true friend."

"I don't want him to do that," she mutters with furrowed brows.

Severus scoffs. "A little late for that."

"No, really. He can't talk like that about me in front of the other Slytherins. It'll make him a target."

"Don't you think that's a bit paranoid, Ava? The kid is only a first-year. No one's going to hurt him."

I suppose Voldemort isn't really recruiting the younger students yet. Just the seventh years and the Pureblood Slytherins like Regulus and Rabastan. "I guess. But can you keep an eye on him? Please?"

He must've sensed her true worry for Benedict because he nodded and didn't try to placate her further. After a couple moments of silence, he said, "Speaking of which, it seems that Lucius has been keeping an eye on you."

Her brows rose. "Oh?"

"He's been asking questions about you, but I've managed to keep my answers vague thus far."

She nodded. "Okay. If you have to, you can give him little tidbits of information."

"Why would you want to do that?" Regulus asked, drawing her attention.

With a shrug, she said, "I dunno. It might appease him a bit, and then I'll have an in with him."

"An 'in'?"

She looked back to Severus. "Yeah. I'm not convinced that he'll fully support Voldemort when the time comes if he knows the truth."

Both Slytherins scrutinized her for a long moment.

She sighed. "Please, just trust me. I'm not going to put myself in danger unnecessarily, I promise. But besides Lucius, let me know whatever else you guys hear about other followers, including Rabastan."

Regulus nodded.

"By whose definition of unnecessarily, Ava?" Severus asked, giving her a pointed look.

She merely watched him, not having the energy to defend herself right that second.

He huffed and then changed the subject. "The Basilisk venom should be arriving within the next week or so."

She smiled. "Awesome."

"Only you would find something of that nature 'awesome', Ava," Severus snarked.

"Why thank you, bestie," she said with a beam.


At the Gryffindor table during dinner, Avalynn took her usual spot between Sirius and James, across from Remus. Outside of his more possessive days around the full moon, the werewolf didn't seem to care where she sat. The witch teased her soulmate about her seating preference, claiming that she just liked to be able to see his handsome face entirely, rather than just his profile. Despite however true that might be, Ava was truly more concerned about her self-control when she was in such close proximity to Remus. Since the conversation in the Room of Requirement when she and the boys had dropped a massive truth bomb on the unsuspecting werewolf, they had hardly any free moments to themselves to be intimate. But Ava was more than thankful of that. Since Remus acknowledged the soulmate bond in return, her magic had been more demanding, nudging and enticing her to seal their connection.

Ava took the opportunity to rove her eyes over her boyfriend from across the table. Boyfriend, she thought, crinkling her nose. He's my soulmate. Boyfriend just seems so…insignificant. She was curious about how Remus's magic was reacting to their connection, but she was hesitant to ask him, afraid to even bring up the topic at all. Their relationship seemed fragile after their talk in the Room, and while it might all be in her head, she wasn't willing to fracture it further. Ava was torn from her thoughts when James elbowed her in the ribs and inclined his head towards Lily, who sat on the other side of him.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I was asking about what year you're in for each of your classes now," the redhead said.

"Oh, well I just started in third year for Potions, History of Magic, and Astronomy. And then I'm almost done with fourth-year Defense, fifth-year Charms, and third-year Transfiguration."

Lily beamed at her. "That's incredible. You should be very proud of yourself."

Blushing, she glanced around the table to see the others nodding before locking eyes with Remus.

"She's right, you know," he said. "You're moving through the material at an impressive rate. I overheard Professor Flitwick say those exact words to Professor Slughorn."

Ava's brows shot up. Huh, maybe I am doing alright. No matter how quickly she devoured the curriculum, she always felt behind, playing catch up against a crazed wizard who would literally kill her if he found out the truth. Actually, Voldemort would probably torture me for information, she thought with a shudder.

A question from Alice drew Ava out of her thoughts. "What about electives?"

Lily perked up. "Oh, yeah. What about those? You're in third year and up with all of your classes now, and that's when we start taking electives."

She shook her head. "Aunt Minerva wants me to wait until I've caught up to fifth year for all of the core classes first. Which ones are you all taking? Any suggestions?"

The group launched into a discussion weighing the pros and cons of each elective, already confirming Ava's thoughts. After a few minutes of debate, she said, "I think I'm leaning towards Ancient Runes. I think they're pretty interesting and that could be a useful skill." Noises of agreement rose up around the table. "Yeah, just the other day I was looking for some good offensive spells and found one, but only after translating the passage from Russian. Madame Pince would only give me a dictionary instead of casting a translation spell for me." She rolled her eyes then smiled. "But it was totally worth it."

"Yeah?" James asked around a bite of food. "What was it?"

Ava's eyes lit up as she straightened in her seat. "There's this really cool one called a Cascading Jinx that you can use to attack multiple opponents with little explosions that set off like a chain reaction. Not to mention the Entrail-Expelling Curse. Super gross, but effective. And there's another one that allows you to share magical power between casters, so you could cast a more powerful spell without exhausting yourself. I was thinking if I took Ancient Runes, then I'll be able to translate even older texts and pick up some obscure spells that could come in handy. Just think of the possibilities. Wouldn't it be awesome to create a new spell using—," she continued to ramble until Sirius cleared his throat, drawing her attention.

His face appeared expressionless, but his gray eyes bored into her, seemingly imploring her to stop talking. His gaze flicked over her shoulder.

She took in the other Gryffindors' faces, varying from concerned to unnerved. "What?" she asked cautiously.

After a few seconds of silence, Remus spoke first. "Some spells aren't taught for a reason."

She frowned. "And that would be…" she trailed off.

"Because they're dark," Frank said in a hard voice.

Ava raised her eyebrows. "Dark? I don't think so. I mean, maybe the curse, yeah, but not the others." But looking at her friends' faces, it seemed they disagreed. "Then why are those books in the library?" There was some grumbling, but no real answers. She scoffed. "So just because the spells are in Russian, they're dark? Don't be ridiculous."

"Don't be naive," Frank countered.

She slowly inched up one brow. "Excuse me?"

Remus tried to play referee. "The spells you mentioned might not be dark necessarily, but they are certainly in the more…gray area."

She huffed off a laugh. "So what? Should I not learn them just because you happen to think they aren't light magic? It's not like I'm using them to hurt anyone."

"Not yet," Frank said with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, Jesus. Get over yourselves."

"Must be all that time she spends with the Slytherins," Peter muttered.

Ava narrowed her eyes at the rat bastard as she felt her face flame in anger. "Speaking of which, I must be going. I've got more studying to do with those super scary, dark and evil friends of mine," she said, voice heavy with sarcasm. She reached down for her schoolbag and stood without saying goodbye, and was just outside the entrance when someone grabbed her arm.

"Ava," Remus said.

She sighed, hoping that this wouldn't be a discussion about his friends eventually warming up to her. She was all good with Lily and Alice, while the other girls remained pleasant acquaintances, but Ava wasn't sure she'd ever be friends with Frank and Peter. I need to try harder with Peter, she bemoaned. Spinning to face her soulmate, she tried to give him a smile.

His expression softened as he clasped her hands in his. "They just need more time getting to know you." He reached out to cup her cheek, eyes slowly drinking in her face. "You're smart and funny, and damn adorable, and I don't think it'll take much longer before they break down and see how amazing you are. There's nothing wrong with wanting to learn more either."

A storm of butterflies erupted in her stomach. "You think I'm adorable?" she whispered.

He grinned. "Of course I do."

She rolled her eyes, leaning into his warm hand. "That's just because you're my soulmate."

"No, it's because it's true," he told her with furrowed brows.

She stood on her tiptoes and pecked a quick kiss to his lips. "Well, either way, thanks for the pep talk." She moved to step away from him, but he didn't release her hand.

"I'm assuming that you're meeting up with Snape and Sirius's brother?"

"Yep."

"Can I join you?"

Ava bit her lip in contemplation. While Remus looked at her with a face full of hope, and she wanted to quell the hesitation in his voice, she didn't think it was a good idea. Severus would be truly upset with her if she invited the werewolf without a warning, and she honestly wasn't sure how Remus would react when he saw how hard the Slytherins pushed her in their duels. Every round, both parties would manage to land a spell on one another at some point, but they would push through the pain, stopping only when someone fell unconscious. Just yesterday, she had passed out from blood loss after one too many Slicing Hexes and had to be Rennervated and given a Blood Replenishing Potion that Severus had brewed specifically for their dueling practice. Ava had only just barely gotten the Slytherins to agree to ramp up their fights to make them more realistic, and she didn't want to jeopardize her recent progress. Though Severus and Regulus were reluctant to hurt her, they had conceded that her lack of preparation for a real duel, when she could very well be injured, might be detrimental in the future.

"I'd rather schedule a meet-up with you, Sirius, and James for tomorrow night," she finally said.

Remus tensed, eyes flashing amber. "Why?"

She peeked around them at the other students milling about the entrance of the Great Hall and leaned closer. "I can explain everything to you after dinner tomorrow if you guys will meet me in the Room."

His eyes flashed amber once again as he began to let out a low growl.

Placing a hand against his cheek, she said, "Remus, and Moony, I'll be safe with Regulus and Severus. They're my friends and would never intentionally harm me. I've been hanging out with them for weeks now and nothing's happened."

Her soulmate's eyes were still amber as he gripped her hips and yank her body to his, slamming his lips against hers. He dominated Ava's mouth and gave a soft rumble of satisfaction when she released a pleased moan.

He broke away from her, inspecting his work and taking in her flushed face and swollen lips.

With green eyes he gave her smirk, causing her to smack his chest. "You did that on purpose," she admonished.

"Well, I can't have you forgetting about your mate, can I?" He dipped his head down, giving her a chaste kiss, and stepped backwards. He flashed her a smug smile before retreating into the Great Hall.

She stood rooted to the spot, eyes trailing after Remus as a happy sigh escaped from her lips. I wish I could kidnap him for a whole day so we could seal our bond, she lamented. Ava shook her head and twirled on her heel, heading towards the stairs. As much as she wanted to ravish her werewolf, she knew that her magical abilities were more essential to her plan.