Authors note: And here we have it - the end of third year!
I want to say thank you to anyone who has made it this far, all your reads, kudos and comments genuinely mean the world to me. I really hope that you'll continue to follow this story.
The next section - fourth year- will be a little shorter than this one I think (while I have a vague notion of where this is going I am also sort of making it up as I go :)) because 1) apart from the tournament not a lot happens in Goblet of Fire and 2) I'm just not a huge fan of book 4 in all honesty.
But anyway enough rambling from me!
As always - stay safe and keep smiling xx
P.s This is a longer chapter because I got carried away :)
Exam week finally arrived and soon every corner of the castle was full of students with their noses in books trying to cram in some last-minute revision.
Transfiguration was the third year's first exam and they all emerged from the classroom muttering to one another about their attempts at turning a teapot into a tortoise.
"I think mine ended up looking more like a turtle," Hermione complained.
"At least yours didn't still breath steam," Ron huffed.
Neville slumped his shoulders. "Mine still had a handle."
Ebony gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry, mine was still blue and white."
...
They then moved onto Charms in which they had to perform the cheering charms on each other. Ebony managed to make Neville double over with laughter but his gave her a stitch and made her eyes water, she was still in fits of giggles when they left the classroom.
"Well," she spluttered in between giggles, "I think it's safe to say you passed."
"You think?" Neville said, looking unconvinced.
"Seriously?" she wheezed, pausing to lean against the wall. "I'm struggling to breathe, I'm laughing so much."
Neville grinned. "I do hope it wears off soon though."
"Tell me about it," she said, trying to take a deep breath only to be interrupted by more giggles.
...
Care of magical creatures was next and was by far the easiest one yet. Their task was to care for the flobberworms that they had been tending to all year. They were quite possibly the dullest creatures ever but Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence over the Hippogriff incident.
Ebony was still pissed off at Draco about that. The subject may have been rather interesting if he could've just not been a prat for five minutes.
The flobberworms were easy to care for though as all you had to do was leave them alone so they all left the exam with a spring in their step.
It was nice to know that she had definitely passed at least one exam.
...
They were gathered outside the classroom waiting for the Potions exam to start and Neville was pacing back and forth, looking pale. Ebony was tugging at a hangnail on her thumb.
"Two minutes to go, lads," Dean declared, looking at his watch, which earned him a shove from Seamus and caused several groans. Neville's face turned considerably greener and he stopped pacing. He looked at her with fear in his eyes.
"Hey," she said, gripping his shoulders, "you'll be fine. You've got this."
"I really don't."
"You're not terrible at potions okay? You just get nervous around Snape. So when he comes over, just pause and look at the instructions or something till he leaves."
"Okay. Okay, " he said, nodding to himself, "okay. I feel like I should give you advice as well."
"And what would you suggest I do to not be shit at potions?"
"Don't blow anything up?"
Ebony snorted, "works for me."
Neville gave her a half-hearted smile and took a deep breath which turned into a groan as Snape appeared at the door.
"Enter, no talking from now on."
They all filed in, giving each other a mix of reassuring and worried glances as they spread out in the room. Neville sat as close to Ebony as was allowed. He glanced over and she gave him a thumbs up.
"You may begin," Snape said as he stood at the front like a hawk eyeing its prey.
When Ebony finally handed over her finished potion Snape merely made a 'hmm' sound and scribbled something on the parchment before indicating that she should leave.
Once in the corridor, everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief which soon turned into panicked chatter as they discussed what had just happened.
"Merlin's bloody ballsack, that was a fucking shit show," Ebony moaned as Neville came over, still looking like he was about to pass out at any given moment.
"You didn't blow anything up though," he said, throwing his arm around her shoulders. Ebony suspected that this was possibly more to make up for his current lack of balance rather than affection but she appreciated it all the same.
"I didn't," she said, "but it was supposed to be purple and mine was fucking neon green!"
"Mine was blue."
"That's pretty close honestly."
...
Astronomy and History of Magic were next and sort of went past without too much bother. Ebony rather enjoyed Astronomy even though she wasn't great at it and History of Magic was purely about how many facts about witch hunts and goblin wars you could cram into your head.
Herbology was on Wednesday and the sun had decided to come out which meant that they were all being boiled alive in the greenhouses. Still, Ebony liked seeing Neville in his element. He had been far less of a nervous wreck that morning than he had been all week.
Two hours later they both emerged from the greenhouse thoroughly sunburned.
"That was actually alright," Neville said, wiping soil from his forehead.
"Yeah," Ebony agreed, digging dirt out from her fingernails, "I told you could do it with your eyes closed. Just two more to go now."
Neville turned up his nose, "Can I not just do that one again?"
Ebony just grinned and shook her head.
...
They had never done a practical exam for DADA before and it turned out to be an obstacle out on the grounds
Ebony was both rather excited and terrified.
"I will set you off one at a time," Lupin said, "Remember to stay focused. Good luck."
They all stood in line, anxiously waiting their turn. Neville was in front of her with his sleeves rolled up, looking scared but far more confident than he had for previous exams.
Ebony watched him run off and then she moved to the front of the queue.
"Off you go Ebony."
She took a deep breath and started off towards the pond in front of her. It turned out to contain a Grindylow which nipped at her ankles. Then there were Red Caps, a marsh full of Hinkypunk's and, finally, an old trunk.
Ebony climbed into the trunk, the end of her wand lit and held out in front of her
'Come on,' she thought, 'nearly done.' This exam had gone the best out of the ones she'd done so far and she didn't want to mess it up now.
The air around her seemed to shake and move as if it were breathing. Ebony swallowed and gripped her wand tightly in her hand.
Bloodtraitor.
Her mother's shrill voice echoed around her and Ebony looked up to see both her parents looming above her. This time her father's belt was in his hand.
A Boggart.
Disappointment.
Waste of space.
Ebony swallowed. 'They can't hurt you, they're not real. You're scared they'll hurt you but they aren't really there.'
How about I teach you a little lesson?
She needed to laugh. How could she make them funny?
Her wand arm was trembling.
Such a pathetic little coward
Her face burned. Maybe she couldn't do this.
Why would anyone want you?
She took a shaky breath. Neville wants me, he's my best friend.
Her father smacked the belt against his hand.
Ebony's heart was hammering in her chest. Neville. That's it. She shut her eyes for a minute and pictured what Neville had done to Snape the first time.
"Riddikulus," she said firmly but nothing happened. Her parents moved closer.
'Breathe Ebony. You can do this.'
"RIDDIKULUS!" She yelled with her wand straight out in front of her.
The next thing she knew, both her parents were dressed in a long green dress, her mother had a hat with a stuffed vulture and her father's belt had been replaced with a bright red handbag.
Ebony let out a peal of nervous laughter before clambering out of the trunk.
She was met with a proud smile from Professor Lupin.
"Well done," he said, ticking something on his clipboard before giving her a pat on the shoulder, "knew you had it in you."
Ebony grinned at him and stumbled over to where Neville was waiting. Her legs wobbled and she felt rather dizzy but she beamed all the same.
"How did you do?" He asked, pulling her down onto the grass beside him.
"I did it. The Boggart. I did it." Her voice had an air of disbelief. She still wasn't quite sure how the hell she had managed it. But she did. She'd fucking done it.
"OH MY GOSH!." Neville flung himself at her, swinging her back and forth in his arms. "I'm so proud of you I could cry!"
Ebony gave a shaky laugh which was muffled by Neville's shirt. "Please don't."
...
Ebony left the ancient runes classroom with Hermione who was muttering away about the various mistakes she'd made.
"I know I mistranslated question four, it seems so simple now."
Personally, Ebony thought she'd be lucky if she'd translated even one of the questions correctly.
"I'm sure you did brilliantly as always," she said, offering Hermione a reassuring smile. She let out a breath a seemed to calm down a little.
"I'm sure you did just as well." Ebony resisted the urge to burst out laughing.
"I guess miracles can happen."
...
"If all that stress was for third-year exams, I never want to do OWL's," Neville said as he flopped back into the grass.
The two of them were lying on the grounds near the greenhouses. It was fairly empty as most of the school had taken full advantage of a Hogsmeade weekend at the end of exams, Neville was still barred from going so the two of them were just hanging out.
"Agreed."
"You two look like you could use some sugar."
Ebony sat up to see Seamus and Dean approaching them with a bag of Honeydukes sweets. Neville sat up as well.
"What are you two doing here?"
"Well," Dean said, taking a seat next to them, "we couldn't let you be left out of the end of term celebrations now could we?"
"That," Seamus said, plonking himself down and emptying the bag of sweets onto the ground, "and Hogsmeade is so fucking busy, Jesus Christ."
"For a second there Seamus," Neville said, "I thought you had come to join us because you appreciated our company."
"Don't flatter yourself, Longbottom." But he grinned nonetheless.
"There is some crazy chatter going round though," Dean said.
"What do you mean?"
"Professor Lupin's leaving."
"What!?" Ebony and Neville both cried.
"Turns out he was a werewolf, Snape told all the Slytherins this morning."
"I don't see why anyone would care, he's by far the best teacher we've had," Dean replied.
"I don't care," Neville mumbled, frowning at the idea of losing his favourite professor.
Ebony didn't know how to feel. Everything she had been taught about werewolves was that they were vile and vicious monsters that should be killed but it was hard to think that about Professor Lupin. Dean was right, he was by far the best teacher that they had had. He was so kind and friendly that the idea of him turning into a monster once a month seemed impossible.
"Can't believe he's leaving," she said
"Well as much as we don't care," Seamus said, "I imagine lots of parents will. I guess he doesn't want to be here when the complaints hit."
"I propose," Dean announced, hold a chocolate frog in the air, " that we enjoy this feast in honour of Professor Lupin, the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had."
The rest of them scrambled for a chocolate frog and held them in the air.
"To Professor Lupin!"
Then they tucked in and soon Neville had smoke coming out of his ears, Dean had given himself a pigs nose and both Seamus and Ebony were gagging after some rather unpleasant Bertie Bott's every flavour Beans.
"Why," she said, spitting the remnants of the sweet onto the ground, "would someone make a mouldy bacon flavoured sweet?"
"Count yourself lucky, I got overflowing bin flavour."
Dean and Neville both laughed.
"That's why I don't trust wizard sweets," Dean said, his nose now returned to normal, "what's wrong with just a Dip Dap and some Jammy Dodgers?"
"I have no idea what you are on about," Neville said. Seamus pulled him into a headlock and ruffled his hair.
"You never do."
"Get off me!"
Ebony just laughed and rose to her feet. "I'm going to pee, I'll be right back."
"No, don't leave me with them Eb," Neville cried, trying to wriggle out of Seamus' grip.
"Ha, your knight in shining armour has abandoned you."
Ebony merely rolled her eyes as she walked away, watching the three of them start to wrestle with each other.
She was just nearing the entrance gate when she almost collided with Professor Lupin who had his tattered trunk in one hand and an empty Grindylow tank in the other.
"Oops, sorry Professor,"
"That's quite alright Ebony." He gave her a small sad smile. "And it's not 'Professor' anymore."
"Yeah, we erm... We heard about that."
"I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did, in all honesty."
"None of us care by the way," she said, " We all still agree that you are the best teacher we've had."
He gave a soft chuckle, "That's very nice of you."
"Oh, and thank you, Professor," she said, blushing a little, "for everything."
He gave a sort of sad smile. "It's been a pleasure teaching you," he paused a moment before adding, "Remember Ebony," he said, "the bravest thing you can do is ask for help."
And with that, he gave her a nod of his head and carried on walking down the hill.
Ebony watched him for a moment before continuing inside as his words set in.
She knew that as much as she tried to convince herself that she was fine on her own, a little help now and again probably wouldn't hurt. But it wasn't that easy. Ebony prided herself on being a Gryffindor but she wasn't that brave. At least not yet.
She was fine on her own. At least for now.
...
Remus leant his head against the side of the carriage.
He had never imagined that he would've lasted so long in the position but the reality that it had now come to an end still hurt. It meant he was back to endless days spent trying to find work of any kind, his search now made even harder by the fact that his condition was now public knowledge.
He had hoped that Snape had grown up a little since their school days but apparently not. Though Remus was grateful to him for brewing the Wolfsbane potion, he now resented the man far more than he thought possible.
But at the same time, Remus knew that he had simply sped up the inevitable - that the Wizarding world would find out about him soon enough.
The only comforting thought was Sirius.
Sirius was innocent and he had escaped the clutches of the ministry yet again.
Remus almost had a small part of his life back, a part he thought he had lost forever.
Maybe things would be okay after all.
...
There were a million rumours flying around about what had happened with Sirius Black and his daring escape but all Ebony cared about was the fact that he had got away. Again.
She desperately wanted to tell Neville what she knew but she thought that she should keep it to herself. Apart from the fact that she had absolutely no idea how to casually bring it up in conversation and that she had no evidence that he was innocent other than a feeling in her gut, she thought that the fewer people who knew the better. She didn't want to put him in any more danger than he was already.
They both had a good laugh at Draco though. He was in a right grump about the fact that Buckbeak had managed to escape as well which everyone else found highly amusing. Ebony found it hilarious that his pride had been so badly wounded by a fucking Hippogriff.
...
They received their exams results at dinner on the last day of term.
"Look, look!" Neville cried whilst repeatedly tapping her arm. "I got near top marks in Herbology!"
"Well done!" She said with a grin as she looked over at his results which turned into a grimace as she read hers.
They weren't great but they also weren't terrible. It just made her parents' reactions even more unclear.
She'd managed to get high marks in DADA and Care of Magical Creatures. She'd gotten pretty good in Herbology as well - just a little less than Neville. Most of her other subjects were around the middle mark, with the exception of History of Magic which was a scraped pass. However, she'd also failed Potions and Ancient Runes which she knew was far from good.
It was going to be a fun conversation to go home to.
"How'd you do?"
Ebony slapped a smile on her face and hastily shoved the parchment into the pocket of her robes.
"Fine," she said, "they're... fine, yeah fine."
Neville just sighed. "And I'm supposed to believe that am I?"
Ebony looked at him and then groaned, putting her head in her hands. She looked up when she felt the weight of his arm across her shoulders. "What am I supposed to do?"
He squeezed her shoulders and leant his head on top on hers.
"You tried your best, surely they'll understand?"
It was almost laughable how much Neville underestimated how completely not understanding her parents were.
All she did was sigh.
...
Ebony was lying on the floor of the common room by the fire. The pit of dread about going home had settled firmly in her stomach and she couldn't even be bothered to try to sleep. Neville was also once again out for the count. She looked up as she heard footsteps come towards her and saw the familiar blur of orange as Ginny lay down next to her.
"Well hello there," Ginny said, lying on her front and propping herself up on her elbows.
"Hello again," Ebony replied with a smile.
"Eventful end to a year wouldn't you say? Murderer getting away for like the third time."
Ebony chuckled, " And losing yet another Defense teacher."
"I still can't quite believe that Professor Lupin turned out to be a werewolf."
"Me either, he just seemed like the last person I'd expect." Ebony said, "he was so...kind."
"Just because he's a werewolf doesn't mean that he can't be a good person." Ebony studied her for a moment.
"You're very good at seeing the best in people you know that."
"Thanks," Ginny sighed, "I think it's got a lot to do with the Chamber of Secrets stuff that happened."
"What actually did happen?" She asked hesitantly before swiftly adding, "if you don't mind."
"To put it bluntly - I got possessed by you know who."
"Fucking shit Ginny."
"I'd somehow gotten ahold of his old diary which slowly took over my body." She said a little too casually, "then I almost died because of it and Harry came to save me."
"And you survived that?" Ebony couldn't quite believe it. "That's insane." Ginny smiled gratefully.
"I guess that's partly why I don't like to judge people based on the bad parts of them, I mean I literally had one of the darkest wizards inside my head and I like to think that I'm still a good person."
"You are." Ebony gave her a reassuring smile.
The crackling of the fire filled the peaceful silence between them.
"You okay?" Ginny asked after a few minutes, "I can see the cogs turning again."
"Yeah," Ebony sighed softly, "just not looking forward to going home."
"Nothing's better than Hogwarts."
"You can say that again."
"Still, it's nice to see my family again, even if it is a bit hectic."
"How many brothers do you have altogether?"
"Six."
"Wow."
"It has its ups and downs. And even though Bill and Charlie don't live at home anymore my house is still very very busy," she said, "do you have any siblings?"
"I wish," Ebony said as she shook her head. "No, it's just me and my parents."
"Doesn't that get a bit lonely?"
"Yeah it does," she sighed, "Just me and a big old empty house. And my parents don't let me write to anyone either, well they probably would if I had any friends that they would deem 'acceptable'."
"You don't have anyone to talk to? No one at all?"
"Me and Draco used to be pretty close before Hogwarts so it wasn't too bad but we don't really see much of each other anymore."
"Well, you are more than welcome to come round to the chaos that is my house."
"Really? We've spoken like a handful of times."
"Yes, but talking at three in the morning is very different than during the day. I'm sorry to say that we have formed a bond that you are now trapped in."
They both giggled and Ginny moved to lay her head on Ebony's stomach.
"Besides, there's something about you Ebony Lestrange that I can't quite put my finger on. But I like it."
Ginny's words gave her a warm feeling in her chest and she was unable to stop the grin that spread across her face.
"Can you tell me what it's like?" Ebony asked, "Your family?" Ginny turned her head.
"Really?" Ebony just nodded.
"Well," she said, settling back to staring at the ceiling, "There's my oldest brother, Bill. He's really cool, he works as a curse breaker..."
Ebony just closed her eyes and listened to Ginny talk about her family. Her older brothers' super exciting jobs, the twins jokes, her mum's baking, her dad's fascination with muggles. She listened to the tales of Ginny breaking into the family broom shed and the time that the twins almost threw Percy off the roof.
Ebony wondered what it was like, to have a family like that. To have a house so full of joy and laughter. And love.
It sounded so warm and cosy and she could almost picture it as Ginny said that she could see the sunset over the hills from her bedroom window and that they would spend evenings squished onto two sofas by the fire.
Ebony only wished that she would be able to take up Ginny's invitation of a visit but it would never happen. She didn't even want to imagine what would happen if she mentioned the word 'Weasley' in her house, especially if it wasn't followed by the words 'bloodtraitors' or 'muggle loving filth.'
...
Ebony and Neville were just sitting down as the compartment door opened. Ginny stood on the doorway with a blonde-haired girl.
"Hey,"
"Hi, Ginny."
"This is Luna," she said, indicating to the girl beside her. Luna had a sort of dreamy look about her. She smiled at Ebony. "Can we come sit with you? Everywhere else is full."
"Sure!" Ebony shuffled up to the window and Ginny sat next to her and Luna sat opposite them, next to Neville. He gave her a very awkward smile and then he turned to Ginny.
"Oh, you're Ron's little sister aren't you?" Ginny nodded. "How do you two know each other then?" Neville asked looking between the two of them.
"We have shared many a late-night chat," Ginny replied, stretching her legs onto the opposite seat. "Turns out we both suck at sleeping."
"Don't look like that Neville," Ebony said at Neville's small frown, "I always try to wake you up first but you sleep like a log." He gave a small grin.
"Anyone fancy a game of exploding snap?" Luna asked, pulling a pack of cards out of her robes.
"Yes please!"
...
When they pulled into Kings Cross, Ebony thought that she was going to be sick. The journey had been lovely - Luna was strange but in a sort of cool way and Ginny was, well, Ginny. But as muggle London started to appear outside the window, Ebony's stomach tied itself in knots.
They all grabbed their trunks and rucksacks. Luna gave them a smile and a wave and skipped out of the compartment.
"See you next year then!" Ginny said, flashing then a smile before following Luna.
Ebony turned to Neville, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to cry.
"Guess I'll see you in 8 weeks then," she said, smiling weakly.
He said nothing but just pulled her into his chest. "I'm going to miss you."
"Me too," she mumbled into his chest. She took a deep breath, taking in the scent of his jumper as if trying to commit it to memory.
Ebony pulled away, knowing that if she hung on any longer she may never let go. She gave him a brave smile. "I'll be fine."
"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" He said a pitiful look on his face.
"Both?"
Neville bit his lip, something he always did when trying not to cry. "You go first this time."
Ebony picked up her trunk and gave him one last look before slipping out of the compartment and off the train.
...
Once on the platform, she scanned around for Draco but he was nowhere to be found. She was just about to start wandering around when a voice made her blood run cold.
"Ebony!" Rodolphus' voice echoed around the station, causing many people to look up.
Ebony looked over the crowd and soon enough she met the cool stare of her father. Her parents hadn't come to the station with her since first year. Though her father was unusually alone.
She obediently shuffled towards him, ignoring the stares of various students, resisting the urge to have one last glance back at Neville.
"Hello Father, what a-" she hesitated, " - a nice surprise." Not.
"Yes well your Mother was driving me up the wall, I needed out the house."
Well, that wasn't a great start, her parents were seemingly in a bad mood and she hadn't even got home yet.
He held his hand out towards her, "Report, now."
She swallowed. Ebony had hoped that perhaps they would've forgotten about her results but she had no such luck. She reluctantly brought the roll of parchment out of her robe pocket and placed it in his open hand. She didn't meet his eye as he opened it. She heard him grunt then he lifted her chin up with a single finger.
"We'll discuss this further when we get home." He jerked his head toward the direction of the station Floo. Ebony lifted her trunk and started walking, trying to ignore the rising lump in her throat.
She passed Ginny and her family and Ginny shot her a small smile but Ebony felt her father's hand on the back of her neck steering her forward so she just looked down.
That's when she felt three short buzzes against her chest and she fought the urge to smile.
She wasn't going to be alone this summer.