What to do about your impending doom? Think of Fred's nappies.

"Dean I swear to fuck! I saw the way you were looking at Ginny! At my fucking sister! BACK OFF!"

"Merlin Ron, calm down. I don't get why you're getting so pissy." Dean smiled lazily.

"Cos you're a fucking pervert," Ron shouted, pointing his finger accusatory. While no one was around – well, no one of importance which to Ila was only one person, Hermione, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati looked around to make sure no one heard what was going on. They were in a hallway. Though empty, from the way Ron was yelling, everyone who was having dinner in the Great Hall could hear it.

Ila was busy sitting on the archway, her legs resting on the stone as she watched the rain melt the snow. She wasn't sure what was going on now. Her head was somewhere far else.

"She's in the year below idiot," Dean said defensively. "How am I a pervert?"

Ila could see a flash of blond on the opposite side of the hallway. He was heading their way. She sat up straighter, to get a better look. They hadn't spoken since Saturday.

It was now Friday.

Either he hasn't gotten an answer yet or he's angry at her. She narrowed her eyes, getting a clearer view of him.

Something was telling her that it was the latter. Ila glanced the others. They were busy with keeping the testosterone levels to a zero. She pushed herself off the archway and walked towards him. He stopped a few steps before her.

"What do you want?" he asked, glancing over her head. He didn't sound like he was angry.

"Are you angry?" she said bluntly, crossing her arms. He looked back down at her, confused.

"What makes you say that?"

"It's been nearly a week that you haven't spoken…to me," she said before realising just how…desperate she sounded. It seemed that she wasn't the only one that noticed.

Draco was trying his best to hide his smirk. He wasn't trying hard enough.

"Missing me that much?"

"I'm missing knowing the location of the Quibbler's headquarters," she countered.

He rolled his eyes.

"It is kind of hard. I don't see you putting any effort either."

"I bet I could find the location by the end of the day," Ila said, "you're only doing this so you can go to Borgin and Burkes."

A jet of red flew past Draco. He sides stepped just in time, only feeling the heat of the spell before talking back to her.

"It's a better way to find out about the Sisters than to look into the Quibbler."

"You're the one who wanted to find out who that group was," Ila said.

"Yeah, but I doubt that headquarters are going to know."

"That local office seemed to know," she said.

Draco sighed, wiping his palms on his hands. "I don't think it's worth it Ila."

Something strange happened in her stomach, like a…flutter. Like something was trapped in her chest.

"If I can -"

"PUT THOSE WANDS DOWN NOW BOY!" A voice shrilled, startling Ila so much, she stepped onto his feet. She turned around, not even bothering with an apology as she saw Ron and Dean frozen in mid-air, with McGonagall pointing her wand at them, hurrying towards them. "WHAT ON EARTH IS WRONG WITH THE TWO OF YOU?"
The boys started screaming, putting the blame on the other when both really knowing it was their own fault.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted. "And you! Why did you do anything to stop it!"

"We did Professor, we tried to -"

"You didn't try hard enough did you Granger?" another voice snapped. Snape stepped out of McGonagall's shadow, eyeing all the students. "Detention – for all of you." Snape looked around once more, before seeing Ila and Draco all the way at the back. "That means for the two of you as well."

"Professor, we literally didn't do anything," Ila exclaimed, flailing her arms around. "We aren't even close to where -"

"Talk back to me one more time and maybe I'll get you kicked out of the Tournament altogether!" Snape warned, staring at her momentarily for good measure before taking the two boys, once they were dropped, by the collar away to the Hospital Wing.

"I doubt you'll find it by the end of the day, Ila," Draco said quietly as they watched the others walk back. "Let's go to Borgin and Burkes first – if we still can't find anything, then we'll go the Head Quarters?"

Before Ila could accept, Hermione had walked over, which Draco used as his cue to leave.

"What did he want?" Hermione asked, staring at the back of him strangely. She wasn't sure if she could trust him anymore.

"He thinks that if we go to Borgin and Burkes, we'll be able to find out more about the sisters," Ila explained, as the two walked back to their common room.

"But it'll be dangerous for you to go. Doesn't he realise that?" Hermione said.

Ila shrugged. "I said the same but apparently anything I say falls on deaf ears."

"You can't go now," Hermione said. "Not at least without protection. If he's serious about going, I could find some more Polyjuice potion."

"Don't worry about me," Ila said, waiting for the stairs to get to their landing. "The only person you should be worrying about its Ron. What's going on with him?"

"I don't know," Hermione said worryingly. "He's been like this since January. I don't think I've ever seen him this angry about something before."

"You don't think he's still angry about the Percy thing, do you?" Ila wondered.

"Hmm…remember that letter he got? The one he ripped to pieces before we could see anything, do you think that has got anything to do with this?" Hermione asked to which Ila shrugged, looping an arm through hers.

Hermione opened her mouth, about to say something before closing it, thinking against it. "What is it?"

She glanced at her watch. "Ron'll probably take a long time before he comes back, won't he?" she said, thought she sounded unsure.

"Yeah," Ila said slowly.

"Well, we could always go find that letter," Hermione said. "See what made him so angry. You know he won't tell us anytime soon. But he can't keep all of this in."

"Hermione Granger, since when have you gotten so…wily?" Ila teased before muttering the password. "Gilly Weed."

The portrait opened. Ila and Hermione stepped in but rather than making their way to the girls' dorms, they walked in the opposite direction.

"Alright, you keep watch," Ila said, so Hermione wouldn't feel that guilty for snooping in Ron's room. "I'll try and find it."

The moment Ila opened the door, she instantly regretted being the one to go through his things. She had never realised just how much hard work Mrs Weasley puts into making sure Ron's room was…liveable.

Clothes, books, random bits of essays and homework were all strewn across the floor to the point where you couldn't even see the floor. Ila used a bridge of shirts to make her way to the beds which weren't the best either. She could tell who was who's based on the posters. Neville had diagrams about different types of plants that looked venomous while Seamus was filled with Quidditch posters mainly from the Irish team. Ila could see Barry Ryan showing off his Keeper skills, stopping Quaffles by doing loop de loops. There was another poster of Adrian Lynch flexing his muscles.

Funnily enough, he looked quite like Draco. Both had blonde hair, haughty expressions and a smirk that meant they could get everything and anything they want.

Anyway…

Ila could see some familiar muggle football teams on Dean's bed as she hopped over. She remembered her uncle watching a game before getting pissed off and shouting at the TV, nearly smashing it to pieces when his favourite team lost. Ila jumped over once more to land onto Ron's. It should be noted that the reason why Ila had taken this approach to get his bed, was that she had no idea was on the floor.

And she wasn't in the mood to explore what was down there.

He had posters of different things. Quidditch, Krum, pictures of his family.

Ila crouched down to see a picture of her, Ron and Hermione pinned to the corner of the board. She smiled at the image of them last year in the snow. The three had decided to have a snowball fight, and obviously, Ila and Hermione had teamed up. The picture was of the two pelting snowballs at a fallen Ron. She couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of that Ila. The one who didn't know what was coming.

Ila first searched under his bed which smelt…

"URGH! I'M GOING TO THROW UP!" Ila clutched her nose, physically feeling all the nose hairs burning off. What the fuck was underneath there?

Not wanting to torture herself for any longer, she moved onto his drawers. His first drawer had nothing interesting but a few sweets and…a toothbrush? His second drawer was no better, just piles of paper shoved in there. His third was filled with…hair products. Ila was sure that she had never seen him wear anything of the sort before. Ila pulled the drawer out, wincing at the loud crack when she had done so.

She'll fix that later.

She then poured out the contents of the drawer onto the bed but to her disappointment, she found nothing.

"Where is it?" she whispered herself, balancing on the edge of the bed to go through the drawers once more when…

Something had caught her eye. It looked like a piece of paper that had fallen out of his second drawer. Ila pushed herself a bit closer to the drawer, using all her ab muscles to do so.

She grabbed the letter and pushed herself back onto the bed before she fell into the abyss of…whatever was down there. The paper was an envelope, addressed to Ron. She sat up. Was this it? He was pretty pissed off when the letter came. Wasn't this supposed to be ripped to pieces? Oh, who cares. She took the letter out and read –

"Dear Ron,

I'm sure by now that you've heard what has been going on with me and our parents. I promise you that I apologised to mother the moment I said it and I haven't stopped since. There have been a few things of my own that I haven't been able to keep up with and I'm sure you can understand that everyone has their off days. I haven't been able to contact with Mr Crouch for a few weeks now and I've been a bit stressed out –

But this isn't all about me.

I've come to write to warn you. There's been a few things that I've been meaning to tell you. I don't know if you have read in the papers – perhaps it's because I get mine early, but there will be an article regarding all these unusual disappearances and deaths. They're all pinning it down to You Know Who. All because of the Dark Mark that was seen all the way back from the Quidditch Cup Final. I know, I know, it's incredibly absurd. Everything's but a mere coincidence and some people just have a lot of spare time on their hands. Don't believe a thing Ron. I don't even know why everyone is making such a big deal. I didn't even see the Dark Mark. I'm sure all you saw was a strangely shaped cloud. It was nothing to be worried.

But there's been something else I need to tell you.

There have been rumours about Potter. People have been saying that she's going around telling everyone that someone else – someone working for You Know Who had put her name in. I would recommend you stay away from her Ron. I heard about your argument with her. For a moment I was relived you weren't spending time with her, but then you had to make up with her. When will you realise Ron, she isn't good for you? She's lying. She's clearly been hurt that her parents have died and didn't get enough attention as a child and had to make these rumours up so that the attention was on her once again. But that isn't good. She's the one who put her name in the Goblet. You were right to challenge her because no one else would. Don't be friends with her Ron. She'll bring you down to her level which something I'm not willing to happen.

Of course, this is something I cannot force on you, but listen to what your intuition says. Listen to the truth.

Happy New Year!

Kind Regards

Percy."

Ila knew that Percy had upset Ron about what he said to their mother but…she didn't realise it was about her. Though, that would explain why she made a promise about not getting annoyed or sad about Percy had said. Did Percy really think that? How long did he think that for? She knew that she wasn't Percy's favourite, but she didn't realise…

Was she really looking for attention?

No – of course not, she didn't put her name in the Goblet, and it wasn't even her idea. If anything, it was Moody who had mentioned it once. And the last time she checked, the only people that knew about her theory of You Know Who was Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Draco. None of whom would have said anything either.

Not even the last one.

So, who exactly was Percy to say all this bullshit with so much confidence?

"Wait no Ron, please, don't you want to listen about German mysticism -"

The door to the room slammed against the wall. Ila yelped, jumping off the bed and landing into something that, if she wasn't in the situation she was in right now, would have made her run into the bathroom to wash her shoe ten times.

"What the fuck are doing Ila!" Ron yelled. For a moment, Ila slowly bent down and stayed still, slightly because she was in shock but mostly because she thought – "You know damn well as I do Ila, that just because you're standing still doesn't mean I can't see you. Now get up!"

Ila got up, holding the letter in her hand. Ron glanced at the letter, his face getting redder. "I told you aren't allowed to the read that." He ran all the way before lunging towards her. Ila side stepped, causing him to land on the bed.

"Is this what's making you angry?" Ila said, waving the letter at him. Hermione quickly made her way there, taking the same path as Ila. As Ron rolled over, he looked exhausted. He tried to grab the letter from her hand, but she raised her arm. At that point, he looked at Ila and Hermione, before falling back onto his bed.

"You weren't supposed to see that…."

"Ron," Ila said sternly.

"I mean, it's a lot of things but…yeah."

"What's in the letter?" Hermione asked as she gracefully landed next to them. Ila handed her the letter. It only took a few moments before Hermione made a reaction. "Oh…. ohhhh…"

"Don't make it even worse than it is," Ron grunted.

Ila sat down beside Ron, before lying on the bed next to him. Hermione followed her a few seconds after.

"Ron…why didn't you tell me?"

Ron sighed, covering his eyes with his hand. "Cos how could I? Ila you're my best friend. I don't like it when your hurt and telling you all those things that prick said would have done the exact thing I'm trying to avoid. I already felt bad when we argued and seeing Percy of all people agree with my decision, it was…." Ron shuddered.

"Why would he even say stuff like that?" Hermione said, collapsing onto the bed as well, handing him the letter, to which Ron scrunched into a ball and threw it across the room.

"Who's he been talking to?"

"I don't know – he's been writing letters like this since – well, since the start of the year. But they haven't been this aggressive and none of them talked about Ila before this."

"Do you think Crouch's been saying this?"

"In the letter, he said that Crouch hasn't been in contact with him for weeks – remember, he wasn't even at the ball. Percy had turned up in his place," Ila explained, sitting herself up slightly. "He has to be talking to someone else."

"Maybe Rita -"

"What's the point in trying to find out who he's talking to? He's already said those things. He can't apologise and even if he does, I don't care – he shouldn't have said any of that."

"You can't say that about your brother Ron," Hermione said gently.

Ron stood up. "You don't understand cos you don't have any siblings Mione – I don't care! Stop defending him."

Hermione sat up, telling him, "Ron, I'm not defending him. What he said about Ila was wrong but that doesn't mean you get to not forgive -"

"Why? Why do I have to forgive him after what he said?"

"As much as you don't want to hear this right now -"

"Then why are you still fucking talking?" Ron shouted.

"Ron!" Ila exclaimed. She too stood up, staring at him. "For once will you just stop arguing with Hermione and actually listen to what she has to say!"

Ron backed down slightly, allowing Hermione to finally get more than a word in.

"All I'm trying to tell you is that maybe Percy has his own problems and clearly he's not dealing it in ways that're good but that doesn't mean you should ignore his apology when he makes one. I can't even count the number of times you and Ila have done some messed up things to each other and to me but that doesn't mean we'll hold it over each other's head and never forgive the other person. Will we?"

Ron sat on Dean's bed, running a hand through his hair. "No – I guess not…but I won't forgive him immediately. I'll let him feel guilty for a while before accepting it."

Ila sighed, looking at Hermione. "I s'pose that's close enough."

"Sorry about before," Ron said quietly. "Everything feels all over the place and everyone keeps on pissing me off."

"Like Dean?" Ila asked, sitting back down. "What did he even do?"

"When you were with…Malfoy last week," Ron said, struggling to say the boy's name without getting red in the face, "I saw Dean hanging out Ginny at the Three Broomsticks."

"He hangs out with a lot of people."

"Yeah, I know – it was different this time. They were…" Ron took a deep breath and said, "laughing."

Ila blinked.

She narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"What – why are you looking me like that?" Ron stood up and began to pace the room.

"So, you mean to tell me," Ila said, standing the way of him, "that the reason why you got me a detention was because you saw Dean laughing with Ginny? Not even at her – with her? Are you fucking serious?"

Ron groaned. "Leave me alone Ila – I've had a hard week."

"Doing what?" she said, her voice rising in octaves.

"Being angry takes a lot out of you I'll have you know Ila," Ron said, waving his finger at her.

"Ok…how about we take a deep breath and talk about something else for a change?" Hermione said slowly, pushing Ron's finger down. "Like…you and Malfoy?"

"W-what?" Ila said, clearing her throat. "What about – what about me and him? There's nothing between me and him?"

Was it getting really hot in here or was it Ila?

"I mean what you told me before we got here. Borgin and Burkes?"

"Ooohhhhhhhhhh," Ila said drawing the syllable out before laughing in relief. "Oh, yeah – no – I er – well there's not much too it. Malfoy just said that because we didn't find anything – well he doesn't think we found anything useful in Hogsmeade and that we'll have to go to Knockturn Alley?

"Is he ok? Does he realise what that means if you go there?" Ron said. "Why the fuck was that even an option?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell him but…I don't know," Ila hesitated before she spoke. "We went to the Quibbler's office in Hogsmeade, and you know we asked about the article – the craziest conspiracy one and the moment Malfoy pointed it out, it was like the entire room had changed like that" – Ila snapped her fingers – "none of the other journalists didn't pay attention to us until that moment. The girl we were asking for help started crying, there was an intern that dropped a mug of hot chocolate. The head of the office started shouting at us to leave before he was going to call the Hit Wizards on us – I mean, they kept telling us that they didn't have an idea what we're talking about but…if you're initial reaction is that…you've got to know something."

"That is a weird reaction to have," Hermione said. "They probably did know her – but…maybe after seeing what the sisters did to Lauren Dawlish, they don't want to get involved again. Maybe they helped her out and felt guilty."

"Whatever it was, Malfoy, he kept on getting all antsy talking about the worst possible things that could happen and -"

"And the only way you could calm him down was suggesting going to Borgin and Burkes?" Ron said.

"That was after. I mean, at first he did suggest finding the headquarters of the Quibbler but – something changed his mind, I don't know what and now he can't let the idea go."

"Did he even try?" Ron questioned.

"I doubt so," Ila said.

Ron looked thoughtfully for a moment, confusing the other two girls as they rarely see a facial expression like that.

"Are you ok Ron?" Hermione inquired. "You look like you need to go to the toil -"

"I GOT IT!" he yelled, as the epiphany came.

Hermione and Ila shared a concerned look. "Got what exactly?"

Ron looked at the two girls with a strange sense of determination. Ila was sure she had never seen him like this, even for Quidditch. "Ginny has a friend – well, it's some girl that comes hang out with her – I don't know she complains a lot of about a lot of people but – and here's the bit that's important, this girl, her dad is the Head Editor of the Quibbler – boom!"

"Right…" Ila said slowly, watching Ron breath slowly through his wide smile. "Who is she?"

"No clue."

She kissed her teeth, throwing her arms in the air. "What help is that going to do?"

"Well, we'll just go ask her," Ron said, pulling on Ila's arm and walked over to the door.

"Are you sure we can talk to her?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, what makes you think she won't talk to me? She's my sister for Merlin's sake," Ron snorted. Just as he was about to open the door, someone had beat him to it. The door swung open to reveal a dishevelled Dean and Seamus behind him. Ila could feel his grip tighten as the two boys stared at each other, exchanging wordless threats.

"Why don't we talk to her tomorrow," Ila suggested, wrenching her arm out of his grip before pulling Hermione towards her. "We'll leave you two to it." Ila and Hermione headed out of the room. She quickly whispered to Seamus, "Don't let them kill each other!"

"If they start arguing in the middle of the night, it's not each other they have to worry about," he replied before shoving Dean into the room and closing the door.

"Is it like this?" Ila asked.

"Yep, just like that," a voice behind her said.

"Are you sure you're not just saying that? I have feeling you're just saying that."

"Do you really think I'll set you up like that?" Ila stayed silently. "OI!"

She glanced down to see that she was on her Firebolt, in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, halfway between the hoops. She could feel the weight and warmth of another person sitting behind her. She couldn't tell who it was. But something was telling her to not question it. Enjoy the moment for what it is.

"Alright, alright – what do I do next?"

"Make sure you hold on tight," the voice warned before placing their hands on top of hers. Long, slender fingers wrapped around hers. They weren't going to move. Ila could feel the body shuffle closer to them. She could feel their lips graze her earlobe. "On a count of three."

"Wait," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. There was something in her peripheral that was catching her eye.

"What?"

She gently guided the broom to her right. Behind the castle, the sun was beginning to set. The sun exploded into reds, oranges, and yellows. There was a cloud blocking the actual sun, but its colours leaked onto it, reflecting the warm rays. The mountains behind turned into a dark purple silhouette. She remembered her cousin made a painting of a sunset. It wasn't nearly as beautiful as the real thing, but to Ridhi auntie, it was picturesque. Ila wished she could take a snapshot of what she could see. Show it to her cousin and her auntie. Show it to her friends.

"Have you never seen a sunset before?" they asked teasingly.

"Of course…but there's something different – I've – I've never felt so close to it right now. Like look at the clouds." She looked up. Ila could feel his shoulder behind her. She could feel him inch himself closer so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. The clouds moved so slowly, you had to watch for a few seconds to notice. But the sight warmed her. Yet again, she felt as if nothing could bring her down. Merlin, if only she could feel like this all the time – she would be unstoppable.

"You're not looking at the clouds – I can feel you looking at me," she said, watching the clouds drift past, resting on his shoulder. She could feel his chest move rhythmically.

She could fall asleep right now. She knew he'd let her.

"But you like it, don't you?" he murmured, nuzzling into her neck.

Her eyes fluttered closed. She really could go to sleep. "I don't know what you mean," she said, though the smile she had said otherwise.

"I mean," he said, his voice lowering, "you like the way I look at you. You like it when you catch me staring at you. I can see it y'know." His hands wrapped around her waist. She relaxed against him. "Admit it Ila…don't worry, everyone feels that way. I just have that effect."

"Sure, you do," she mumbled, opening her eyes.

"But not everyone makes me feel like that," he said. Ila angled her head so that she could see him. He was smiling down at her. He wasn't lying. She liked the way he would look at her. He was one of the only people could really see her. She liked the way his eyes would move around her face. First to her eyes, down to her nose, up to her cheekbones, across her forehead before finishing at her lips. Which coincidentally, was where he was looking at now.

She lifted her head from his shoulder and turned slightly, so that she can put her arms on his chest. He held her steady as she swung her legs over, and she was finally facing him.

"You always have a habit of distracting me, don't you?" he smirked.

"You always have a habit of letting yourself get distracted, don't you?" she countered.

"I can't help it when you're around," he said, pulling her so close, their noses were touching. She put her hands on his chest to steady her. "Honestly, I'm fine with everyone else, and then you come along and suddenly the only thing I can think of is you, and you're face, and you're hair" – he ran a hand through her hair, pushing a piece behind her ear – "and you're glasses that you always have to push up because they're too big" – he said, pulling her glasses away and pocketing them – "you're big brown eyes that just suck me in if I look at them for too long" – he traced a circle with his finger around them – "and you're lips that for some reason always seem to be calling my name" – he moved his finger down to her lips, lightly tracing them. He tugged at her bottom lip gently before his eyes locked onto hers, asking – pleading.

"Weren't you supposed to show me how to do a roll?" she whispered. He shook his head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"So, this was all a ploy just to kiss me?" she asked, trying her best to sound annoyed.

"Correct," he said. "You get the winning prize."

"Which is?" Ila asked. She could feel his face getting even closer. His head was turned at a slight angle. His hands travelled to her waist. He wanted to be as close to her as possible. His lips grazed the edge of hers and –

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Ila shot up, breathing heavily. The sound of incessant knocking woke her up from her dream. Her really good dream.

"For fuck's sake!" she muttered, opening the curtains surrounding her bed and grabbing her glasses. She put her slippers on and made her way to the door, weaving through the beds and the girls' belongings. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"

The knocking on the door hadn't stopped until Ila opened the door to see Ron, his arm outstretched. In the other hand, he was holding his pillow and blanket. He was in pyjamas, his hair clearly suffering from a bad case of bed head.

"What the fuck are you doing here? And why the fuck are you knocking so loudly?"

"How else am I supposed to get your attention? Am I meant to think until you can telepathically connect to my thoughts?"

"Yeah, it's better than being woken up from my sleep because a murder's outside!"

"What kind of shit murder knocks before he kills people?"

Ila sighed. "What do you want?"

Ron shifted in his position. "Can I sleep here?"

"Here as in…"

"Your room," he said, nodding inside.

Ila turned back around to the sleeping girls. "This isn't just my room, you do know that?"

"Well yeah, but it's not like I'm some random guys, am I?" he said, shrugging. "I'm Ron."

"Why can't you sleep in your own room?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Dean keeps snoring, and I can't go to sleep," he said as if it was enough of an answer. He kept glancing behind her shoulder. Ila looked at him. He was like a lost puppy. And lucky for Ron, Ila doesn't argue with lost puppies at 3 am.

"Oh alright, but -"

Ila hadn't finished her sentenced when he burst into the room, running to her bed. She slowly closed the door and made her way back too only to find this lost puppy looked very comfortable on her bed.

"Er – why are you doing that? Stop – stop doing that," Ila said, watching Ron pull his blanket over him and fixing his pillow.

"Why not? Where else am I going to sleep?"

"I don't know – anywhere else that isn't my fucking bed," she said before trying to pull his blanket but Ron, having endured years of this from the twins knew what was coming and kept a hard grip on the blanket. Ila pulled as hard as she could before nearly slipping and gave up. "Why can't you sleep on the floor?"

"Why can't you?" he huffed as if Ila had the nerve to ask such a question.

Ila pulled on her own blanket, getting back into her warm bed and pillow. "Cos it's my bed. I make the rules."

"Oh grow up Ila, I'm not going to do anything," Ron muttered, accidentally pulling her blanket towards her.

"I'm not worried that you could have sex with me Ron," she hissed, pulling her blanket back to her, "I'm worried that you'll end up shoving me out of my bed and give me a concussion."

And with that Ila rolled over, placed her glasses on her table and went to sleep.

"You can't expect me to not kiss you Ila," he whispered in her ear before placing a kiss there. "That's like giving me a plate of apple crumble, with custard and whipped cream and not expect me to eat it."

"Are you really comparing me to a plate of apple crumble?" she asked. He placed another kiss on her forehead.

"It's my favourite dessert if that helps," he mumbled, smiling as he placed another kiss on the side of her cheek.

"Only slightly," she muttered. "But you need to do a bit more."

He smirked. "I know just the thing –

"Why don't you tell me anything anymore?"

Ila opened her eyes once more. It hadn't even been five minutes. She clenched a fist around her blankets before realising that she was going to sacrifice her sleep for this. Sighing, she turned around. Ron was already facing her.

"What do you mean? I tell you everything."

"You took your time to tell me about Malfoy," he said, placing a hand under his pillow.

"I don't have to tell you everything do I?" she asked. "It's not like you tell me everything either. You didn't tell me about Percy."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Would you have wanted me to tell you?"

"I would like if you didn't forget about you doing the same things you accuse me of doing."

"I'm not accusing you of anything," he said quickly. "I just – I don't know…do think things have been different since…y'know…the Argument?"

Ila shuffled closer. "Do you?"

Ron rolled over so that he was facing the ceiling. He placed another hand over his head, watching the top of her bed. "It just feels like we haven't been…Merlin I sound so soft but – we haven't been spending that much time together, have we?"

"Yeah," Ila said, struggling to remember when the last time it her was just, Ron and Hermione doing something together without it being to do with the Tournament or discussing Malfoy. "There's just loads of things getting in the way y'know?"

"Like Malfoy?" Ron said grouchy.

"He's not getting in the way of anything," Ila said, far too defensively that she would have liked. It seemed that Ron had also picked up on it. He turned back to face her.

"Why are you defending him, Ila?" he asked earnestly. "Honestly, I won't make fun of its – I just, I don't get it. Why? Have you completely forgotten what he's done the last three years?"

"I thought that too," she said. "But…I don't know, I guess the more time I spent with him or the more things I learnt about him, the more realise that he's – he really is regretful about everything he did. Like…" Ila hesitated. "The night of the Yule Ball…something happened, and I was a bit panicky – anyway, let's not get bogged down with the details," she said quickly when she saw Ron open his mouth, "he took me to the kitchens to comfort me. I mean it didn't work out the way he wanted it to but anyway, there was a point where I finally asked if he was working with You Know Who and that was when he told me everything. Well, at least most things. He told me about what he learnt from a kid, he told me that one time he saw his father torturing this innocent muggle family. He even said that the reason why he hated the three of us was because…we questioned everything that he had learnt. Me and Hermione, being a half-blood and muggleborn were getting on perfectly – well at least as perfectly as a bunch of 11-year-olds can get on – he was pissed off at himself and his parents, but he didn't get it y'know. And then, the stuff about Lauren Dawlish – he…it really affected him, Ron. I can see it whenever he talks about her. I can see how hard it is for him. And then all that stuff about what he told me during New Year's…I really do think he wants to change Ron and I think…if we keep on talking about what he was like before, we're not letting him grow past that…"

Ron stared at her momentarily before moving his head back to the ceiling.

"Is that what he needs? Room to…grow?" he asked.

"For now, at least," Ila said honestly. "I don't know what happens after."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Because…because – I don't know. I can see that it pisses you off when we talk about him. I don't really want to do that to you."

In the darkness, having adjusted to it well, Ila could see the ends of his lips tugging. He was smirking. "Or is it because you have a secret crush on him and you're actually meeting up with him to snog – hmph!"

"Finish that sentence and watch where you'll end up sleeping for the rest of tonight," Ila threatened, taking her hand off his mouth. She wiped it on his blankets before going back to her pillow. She closed her eyes momentarily, waiting for him to talk again.

And talk he did.

"Are you scared Ila?"

She didn't open her eyes. But she could feel him looking at her again.

"For what?"

"Everything…mainly about You Know Who, the sisters…"

"I haven't put that much thought to it," Ila lied, feeling the box rattle.

"You're lying Ila," Ron whispered. "I've known you for a long time, why can't you tell me the truth?"

"Why did ask a stupid question then?" she replied but could feel his stare linger. "Fine…" The box was rattling louder. "I guess…I don't know, I've always thought about it before. I always knew there was a possibility that he could come back, and I had to, y'know, fight back…but" – Ila took a deep breath, feeling the cracks in her voice already form – "the longer nothing happens, the more worried I get. It's – it's like a pressure. It starts at the bottom of my stomach, and I can feel it slowly rise, the pressure, it keeps increasing and – and it's not going away…there are times where I cannot breathe and – and I can't do anything about it. I'm the one who's supposed to be seen as the light at the end of everyone's tunnel. If I'm afraid, then what the fuck happens next?"

Ila swallowed hard. She could feel a hand wrap around hers. She opened her watery eyes to see Ron holding onto her. "I don't know what to do Ron." He changed his position, pulling her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "I can feel something coming, Ron – I don't fucking know what it is but the longer I don't, the more…the more I feel that sense of dread – do you know what I'm talking about?" she asked, looking up at him.

"The one that fills your entire body?" he whispered. Ila nodded.

"But I don't know, it gets just as bad when I try to find out about it as well. There'll be moments where I'll be fine and suddenly just one fucking tiny thought appears and suddenly…"

"It's the end of the world," he finished, stroking her hair.

"I can't win, can I?" she said, burying her head into his shoulder. "If I look into it, I'll panic and if I don't, I'll panic."

"That is a bit of a problem," Ron mumbled. "Have you tried talking to Dumbledore?"

"What is he going to do? Tell me to not worry about it and send me off my way?"

Ron smiled, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Do you want me to tell you a story that dad told me?"

"Is this a bedtime story?"

Ron shook his head, sharing some of his blanket with her so that they could curl up ever so closer. "It was during the War. At the time, my parents – well mum was looking after us but dad and my uncles – mum's brothers – they were – er – they were a part of this group. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but, they were helped with the Light. Dumbledore headed the group. Anyway – dad had to help because er – something about Inferi in the Ministry."

"Inferi?" Ila asked. "What's that?"

"Think…the undead but alive."

"Ew."

"You Know Who was known to use necromancy to help him – anyway, they're there in the Ministry, fighting off all of these undead people. My dad and my uncles back-to-back as they're shining lights on them and setting fire to them because that's how you get rid of them, but there were too many. No one could keep up. You know, they're undead. There's not a lot you can do to get rid of them. Dad told us there was an inferi, he had gotten someone else's wand and kicked him to the floor. He had the wand pointed to his throat – he said his whole life flashed before his eyes at that moment. His last thoughts were of mum and us -"

"Is this a sad story?" Ila asked. "Cos, it's not really doing anything -"

"Well, you've seen Dad, haven't you? I'm sure you can guess the ending but…he was at his final moments and then boom!" Ron punched a hand in the air, holding his wand, the tip lighting the space. Ila could see his face more clearly, the shadows distorting his face slightly, but she could see him smiling. He looked at her. "Dad could only hear it first – the inferi was kind of in the way but then he felt it. It was warm – like warm, like remember last year when we were doing our potions end of years? That hot but like times 100. And suddenly, the inferi let out this screech – ear piercing, my dad had to cover his ears because of it. The inferi dropped the wand and ran and Dad could finally see what happened. Stood at the top of the fountain, in the middle of the Ministry was old man Dumbledore. Dad had never seen it before. It was like this lasso of fire, a massive one mind you, he's circling around his head" – Ron moves his wand in a circle, imitating Dumbledore – "Everyone sort of stopped fighting just to watch him. At that moment, Dad said that he had never seen anyone, not even You Know Who have that much power to capture everyone's attention like that. And – and all around him, the Inferi were running away or burning to ash. But Dad – I don't know, he just watched Dumbledore instead, waving his rope of fire around him, on top of everyone. He was – Dad told us that that was one of those moments where he truly believed everything was going to be fine. Even after everything that had happened before, in that moment, watching him like that…there was a sudden surge of determination. Dad told us it was like he was shocked by...by elek – elektr – how do you say it?"
"Electricity," Ila said.

"Yeah that, he said it was like that and he never doubted him again," Ron said, bringing the wand down. "Nox."

The light had disappeared, and the two were back in darkness.

"I s'pose that was pretty impressive," she said reluctantly.

"I'm not telling to make Dumbledore impressive but…you'll get that moment Ila. Who knows what it'll be, and it doesn't even have to be that small? Mum said she got it when she was changing Fred's nappies -" Ila snorted. Ron turned to face her properly, still have his arms wrapped tightly around her. "All I'm trying to tell you Ila is you'll still get sad or worried but…something out there, something in the universe won't let you feel like that forever. You'll see it and whenever you get like that, all you have to do is think back to that moment and – and you'll be fine. Alright?"

Ila nodded. "And until then?"

"Well," Ron sighed, "I guess you have to keep telling me and Hermione everything, don't you?"

"As long as I don't get made fun of -"

"Hey! I have never made fun…of you about something important, have I?" Ron said, quickly changing his tune when he saw Ila's brow raise.

"Whatever you say," Ila said tiredly. "I just hope it doesn't take long."

Ron planted one last kiss on her forehead before the two untangled from each other. Ila went back to her side of the bed, on her pillow with her blanket. She rolled back over, so that she wasn't facing him anymore and closed her eyes.

"G'night Ila," Ron yawned.

"Good night," she muttered. "And thank you for being a good friend."

"Who else am I supposed to be?"