a/n: Happy Holidays for whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year (or just happy days if you don't celebrate any!)! And enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the true mastermind behind this


November 1993

November was here and there was nothing bright about it. Ascella hated everything and everyone. Except Harry but even with him she was short tempered and short with. He just didn't understand, he tried but he just couldn't. His father was dead and a bloody hero besides, while hers was alive and a deranged murderer, escaped from Azkaban out to kill Harry and no doubt anyone who stood in his way. Harry was lucky his father was dead; better that then alive and crazy like hers. Then again his father probably would have been wonderful. The world worked in nasty ways sometimes, nasty and unfair ways, to let her father still live and take away Harry's.

Her Ravenclaw friends didn't know what to do with her and she didn't let them anywhere near her. Terry ended up being the only one she was still nice to, but that was mostly because he was so kind, helpful and understanding that she couldn't be mean. Aaron and Kevin just avoided talking about anything serious, especially after Ascella had shunned Kevin when he'd attempted to (she was still angry about the whole thinking 'Megan Jones is fit' thing), so she was still able to be around them for short periods of time. But mostly for the beginning weeks of November she found herself sitting moodily beside Harry as he tried and failed to cheer her up while still continuing to shield her from the rest of the school's scrutiny, which had only gotten worse since word of who'd gotten into the castle and attacked the Fat Lady had spread. Ascella would have been in detention till well after the New Year for hexing and/or cursing people if it wasn't for Harry who stayed her hand. As it was she still ended up losing Ravenclaw over 40 points in the first week of November alone.

It didn't help that the only way she got a good night's sleep was when she brewed herself dreamless sleep in the N.E.W.T level potions room but she couldn't do that every night lest someone notice which ingredients were consistently going missing and make the connection to what potion they were most likely being used to make. On the nights she couldn't get that she either didn't sleep or woke in cold sweats from nightmares. The nightmares were mostly the same as before, but longer and worse now, alternating between her being chased by her father, or the image of herself becoming her father. One of them had even gone so far as to show her murdering Harry. Those nightmares were the worst, especially when she had spent the night in Harry's dorm. And after those types of sleepless nights she was even more short tempered than usual and much more likely to receive a detention.

One of those detentions came from Thursday's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Lupin was out and Snape was subbing. The full moon had been the previous night, that knowledge still managing to slip through the annoyance Ascella felt for everything else at the moment and only succeeded in making her even more moody; she'd been keeping up with her research but her mood had fallen into even that aspect of her life and despite her efforts she wasn't yet able to successfully brew Wolfsbane in the private N.E.W.T level room let alone get a chance to experiment.

Ascella spent the first ten minutes glaring at the greasy slimball Potions professor, her chair pushed way back from the desk, her elbow on the desk with her hand holding her head up. She was alone at her table because, for some reason, Harry was late. When she'd asked Ron about it he said the last he'd seen their friend he was being detained by Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The burly seventh year had been detaining Harry at any time he could since they'd found out earlier that week that Hufflepuff would be playing Gryffindor in the opening game of the Quidditch season instead of Slytherin because Malfoy was still too "injured" (Ascella had called bullshit on that when she'd heard, and for the fact that Hufflepuff was still scheduled to play Ravenclaw not more than a week later).

She almost spoke up when Harry finally arrived and refused to sit down as he questioned Snape, losing himself 10 points for Gryffindor for being 10 minutes late as he tried to find out why Snape was teaching but Harry did eventually sit down. She couldn't keep quiet however when told to turn to page 394.

"WHAT?" Ascella said slamming her book shut upon seeing that on top of page 394 was a drawn depiction of a wizard going through the transformation into a werewolf. She proceeded to glare up at Snape, who looked to be positively gloating as he looked back at her.

"Yes, Miss Black?" he sneered. Ascella returned his gaze with a dark glare and had opened her mouth to retort when Hermione spoke up.

"Excuse me, Professor, but we aren't due to start studying werewolves for a couple months yet. We are supposed to be starting Hinkypunks - "

"I think I will be telling you what you will be studying for the day," Snape cut her off.

"Bastard," Ascella said under her breath but not quiet enough.

"Detention, I think, Miss Black," Snape said a gleam in his eye. Ascella sent a rude gesture at his back that made Harry and Ron snort with laughter, which they covered with coughs as Snape turned back around, while Hermione berated with an, "Ascella!" as Ascella schooled her face into an innocent expression.

Turned out Ascella wasn't the only one to earn a detention that class, nor was that the only detention she would receive. Ron earned one for defending Hermione when she correctly answered a question for Snape and he still took points for being a "know-it-all" (only Ron and Ascella were allowed to call Hermione that!). And Ascella earned herself another detention for complaining about the "essay" he assigned on werewolves due next class. She knew what he was doing and she flat refused. Harry was just as annoyed but he didn't know why she was so very annoyed; she had kept her promise to Lupin and not told her best friend no matter how much she wanted to.

After, Snape kept Ron and Ascella back to tell them they would serve that night's detention in the Hospital Wing, cleaning the bed pans. Without magic. Ascella was to do it two nights in a row. She stayed back a moment more, sending Ron on ahead.

"I know what you are doing," she said fiercely to Snape. He smirked at her.

"Whatever do you mean, Black?"

"You want someone to figure it out about him - about Professor Lupin - you want them to find out and complain to their parents and get him kicked out."

"Well aren't you just so... bright," he curled his lip as if the thought was disgusting. "Figured it out all on your own. And then you went around me to get permission to use the N.E.W.T. potions room to help him out, didn't you?"

"Of course I did. He deserves better than his lot in life. And I want you to know that I will personally make sure no one does the werewolf assignment if I have to jinx them to make sure they don't. He is the best professor we've ever had and a jealous Potions professor isn't going to ruin that for us - or him."

"Defending Lupin. How - charming," he sneered sounding like it was anything but. "And 20 points from Ravenclaw, I think, for threatening students. And consider yourself in detention for the rest of the week."

"Whatever," Ascella scoffed, turning to leave and calling over her shoulder, "As long as no one else finds out."

She couldn't help but think that any amount of detentions - no matter how gross they were - was worth it as long as she stood up for what was right. Oh boy, she best not tell Fawley, she couldn't help but think, thinking of their ongoing debate about human morality. The debate had begun a few day previous in Divination and was about their disagreement on the point that all people never did anything nice for others without an ulterior motive. Fawley was on the side that of course people did nice things without an ulterior motive, while Ascella was arguing adamant for the side that no one did, even him. This instance, her ending up in detention by standing up for Lupin, was an example for Fawley's side, not her own, and would be best not mentioned to him lest he get a big head for, perhaps, being right. Regardless of who was winning the debate, Fawley and Ascella had cemented their friendship.

The next day Ascella overheard Hannah Abbot in Potions telling anyone who would listen that Sirius Black could turn into a flowering plant and that's how he managed to get into the castle and remain undetected on the night of Halloween.

"Honestly," Ascella curled her lip, sneering at the girl, disgust all over her face, and her voice loud enough to be heard over the bubbling of cauldrons. "A flowering plant. Really? As if Voldemort's greatest supporter would deign to turn himself into a flowering plant? I mean really, that's the best you could come up with?" Her acid tone and cold gray eyes had Hannah Abbot shrinking away from her and cowering in the safety of the other Hufflepuffs in a matter of seconds.

"Ascella," Terry warned. Ascella deflated a bit and looked away from Hannah. She may have turned away but she was still very much annoyed. How dare anyone spread such ridiculous rumors about him, especially within earshot of her?

"Black, don't you think that was a bit unfair?" Gabriel Fawley bravely said to her. The Hufflepuff had taken over Padma's usual place in sharing a work station with her and Terry after Ascella had become so distant from the rest of her Ravenclaw friends. And when Padma had decided Aaron and Kevin were more fun than her and Terry. Aaron had almost ended up moving to join them, to the disappointment of Padma, but Fawley beat him to it. Ascella and Gabriel Fawley had arrived to Potions together that day, having been well involved in one of their long winded debates on human morality while on the way to Potions after lunch (she had finally been conned into admitting to how she'd ended up in detention for Snape and Fawley was now self-righteously (in Ascella's mind) telling Ascella that, "see even you are bound to do things without thinking of the consequences to yourself" you meaning Ascella in this instance - and unfortunately, in this instance, even Ascella was struggling to come up with a counter argument), so Fawley had just followed Ascella right up to her table and ended up joining her and Terry at their Potions station to continue the discussion right up to class starting and thus he ended up staying there with her and Terry. As such they had fast become friends and say what you will about Hufflepuffs but they had more courage than people gave them credit for; turned out Fawley was one of the few people that would ever dare stand up to Ascella, even while she was in one of her moods. He was showing that bravery in standing up to her now.

Ascella shot Fawley a disparaging look, a look that would have made most people cringe but he merely returned it with a wry look at her; he seemed to have learned that with some people (the some people that he'd learned included himself) her bark was worse than her bite.

"Flowering plant, is being a bit unfair," she said to him. "Really terrifying. I can see the headline now: 'Mass-Murderer Sirius Black turns into Flowering potted plant'. Honestly, I always want to deny my father is my father but I might be even more embarrassed to share genes with him for turning into a flowering plant than for all the murdering."

Fawley snorted to cover a laugh, while Terry gave Ascella a hard look.

But perhaps Ascella should have just kept her mouth shut because by dinner there was a rumor that someone within the castle was helping Sirius Black gain entrance to the school and that someone was her. Fawley was the one who headed her off in the Entrance Hall and gave her warning about it.

"Malfoy overheard Hannah telling Megan what had happened in Potions - she must have overheard us talking after you snapped at her - and well - it sort of escalated before I could get them to stop." Ascella narrowed her eyes. Of course it was Malfoy who was circulating the rumor but then something he said registered in her brain.

"Wait, Megan Jones?" she asked. "You're friends with her?"

"Sort of. My best mates are Oliver Rivers and Wayne Hopkins but Ollie gets on well with Megan. They are the ones that sit with your friend Entwhistle in Divination."

So that was who Megan Jones was. She thanked Fawley for the heads up but turned back a moment later.

"Wait - is Jones the blond one or the brunette?" she asked having just remembered that Kevin sat with two girls in addition to Rivers in Divination and she didn't know which one was which.

"The brunette," Fawley said slowly. "Why?"

"No reason," she said with what could only be described as a voice intent with every reason. "Also why'd you give me a heads up? About the Malfoy rumor I mean."

Fawley shrugged. "You're a friend. But even if you weren't you don't deserve all the crap people have been spewing out about you. It's not your fault who your dad is."

"I -" Ascella didn't quite know what to say. "I - thanks," she settled on, touched more than she was willing to admit. Maybe she was wrong about Hufflepuffs. Maybe people really could be nice just for the sake of being kind. Not that she'd admit it out loud - didn't want Fawley to get a big head for defending the right side in their debate, did she.

Fawley gave her one of his boy next door smiles in response and a "No worries," before he left to enter the Great Hall.

Shortly thereafter, Ascella found herself next to Harry at the Gryffindor Table. She was glaring at the girl she now knew to be Megan Jones while she attempted to eat; she was actually mostly stirring the food around on her plate with her fork. The girl she was staring at was the girl that had drawn Kevin away from her table in Divination, the one who'd touched his arm. Ascella moodily ripped off some meat from a drumstick with her teeth while Harry watched her nervously, most likely waiting for her to explode about all the rumors swirling around but she was too focused on the brunette at the Hufflepuff table to care about the rumors.

"You okay 'Cella?" Harry finally asked.

"No," she said dropping her food to the plate with a loud clatter. "I mean really what does he see in her?" she asked gesturing at the girl, her eyes never leaving her. Harry followed her gaze. He took a while trying to figure out who she was talking about.

"Er - Hannah Abbot?" he asked.

"No. The brunette next to her."

"Justin Finch-Fletchley?"

"The girl, Harry!"

"Oh. Who's that?"

"Megan Jones. Kevin thinks she's fit. Don't know why though. I'm much prettier than her!" And while Ascella might be slightly biased (she was comparing someone to herself) she, in truth, genuinely was prettier - Aaron's description of her being "quite stunning" earlier in the year was quite accurate. Ascella didn't usually want to care about all that but if Kevin thought she, Megan Jones, was fit than he had to think she, Ascell Black, was fit too.

"Well, yeah, you're easily the best looking girl in the year. But as for the whole Kevin thing - " Harry tried to give advice, sounding very much like he wanted to be having any conversation but this one. "I don't know. This Jones is a Hufflepuff. Maybe he likes nice girls."

"I'm nice!" Ascella said, looking at him indignantly.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"Fine," she sighed. "I guess I can admit she might be a tad - just a tad mind you - nicer than me. But I'm more fun, right?"

"Of course 'Cella. You wouldn't be my best mate if you weren't."

"Good. Nice is overrated anyway," Ascella pouted into her potatoes. Still she felt better, if only a bit. "Wanna get out of here?" she asked Harry then.

Harry nodded and they headed out. Only to be met with Malfoy at the door, his cronies Crabbe and Goyle flanking him.

"Leading Potter to your father?" he drawled with a slimy grin for her. "Now that you are working with him and all."

"Watch it, Malfoy," Ascella said stepping up to him threatening. Harry just managed to grab the back of her robes, though he looked anything but calm.

"Give it a rest, Malfoy," he glared at Malfoy.

"Has she already indoctrinated you too?" Malfoy turned to Harry. "You going to just hand yourself over to 'The Blacks'? Make it easy for them?"

"What is going on here?" came the voice of an older student then. Ascella didn't bother raising her eyes from the snake in front of her but Harry groaned upon looking up, so only she could hear.

"Anyone but him," he muttered. "Hope Oliver isn't around or he'll yell at me for 'fraternizing with the enemy'."

Ascella was curious now about the student, who could only be a prefect to have so stopped Malfoy's attack, but she didn't look up, eyes still on Malfoy.

"Nothing, Diggory," Malfoy said in an oily voice that left much to be desired of him being respectful. But even so he left still, Crabbe and Goyle sloping along after him. Ascella jerked her robes out of Harry's grip and fixed the front of them so they fell down her front correctly again, while she glared after the Slytherins.

"Everything alright?" the prefect asked them, his voice soft and kind.

"Yes, yes," Ascella waved him off and dragged Harry away, only briefly glancing up at the prefect, who's gray eyes were watching her more than Harry, before dragging Harry along after her.

"I'm going to kill him, Harry," Ascella said to Harry as they made their way up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Best not," he said. "Don't want you to end up expelled and in Azkaban. I really don't have the time to train a new best mate - between the practices Wood has set, school, other friends - there's just no time."

Ascella stopped, at first offended until she caught Harry's grin, his green eyes flashing with mischief and remembered she had said something very similar to him the previous year. She playfully hit him, but he darted out of the way, laughing.

"Urgh." Ascella half pouted, half grinned. "Well at least you are growing in your sense of fun."

"All because of you 'Cella, all because of you," Harry winked.

"Hey, nervous about the match?" Ascella asked once they were settled up in Gryffindor common room. Harry had been doing a star chart for Astronomy (well copying Ascella's because she'd filled hers out in about five seconds at the end of their previous theo class, having been drilled in the stars since she was young), while Ascella was reading through the notes for the Wolfsbane Potion Meda had finally sent back with Ezzy that morning.

Harry grimaced and reached forward to reload his quill up with ink.

"A bit. More just want it to be over so Oliver will leave me alone."

"I hear ya, I had to confund him the last time he tried to come over here. I was able to handle the first 10 times but the eleventh..." Ascella shook her head. Harry laughed.

"Is that why he suddenly turned around and knocked over that first year? I thought he was having a fit or something." Ascella nodded, covering her mouth as she laughed. "Well, thanks for that."

"What are friends for, if not to confund over zealous Quidditch Captains," said Ascella.

"Right you are. Let me know when I can return the favor."

"You know," Ascella mused. "Davies really could use some confunding. Might be funny. Then again it might not be that much different than how he already acts...hmm..."

"Has that gotten any better?" Harry asked, referring to her troubles with the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain.

"Well, he lets me actually practice now. But he mostly ignores me, which honestly is better than being leered at. He's found himself some fourth year Hufflepuff to ogle now," she said before sweeping her hair dramatically over her shoulder. "Even if she isn't as good looking as me."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Course not, Cells. No one is."

"Too rig - wait. Was that sarcasm?"

"Noo."

"Oy!"

"Say, don't you have another detention cleaning bed pans tonight?"

"Damn - I'm going to be late - See you later, Harry. And good luck tomorrow if I don't see you before!" she called darting out the portrait hole.

The next day dawned dark and gloomy, the nasty weather that had begun at the beginning of November worse than ever. Ascella couldn't believe that Harry was going to have to play Quidditch in the gale storm that was raging outside. She tried to find him down at breakfast to wish him good luck again but he'd already headed down to the Quidditch Pitch with the rest of his team. Ascella had spent the night in Ravenclaw and now she didn't know where to sit - she didn't see Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor Table and she felt weird sitting there without any of her friends, but she also didn't want to deal with cheerful Padma, Aaron and Kevin either at the Ravenclaw table, despite Aaron's zealous greeting when he'd spotted her. Luckily, Cho Chang spotted her and hailed her over saving her from her indecision. Ascella sent a faux pained expression of apology to Aaron before going over to gratefully join the older girl.

"Thanks for that," Ascella told her.

"Thought you looked a bit lost," Cho said matter-of-factly. "Besides Davies wants the team to all sit together for the match, even though we'll be lucky to see anything at all. Here have some hot tea. I think we are going to need as much warmth as we can get."

"Ooh good idea. Here pour the tea in these." Ascella transfigured two napkins into large thermoses, and put two heat keeping charms on each of them. "Now we can keep the tea hot even out in the storm outside."

"You are a helpful friend to have, Black," Cho approved pouring tea into the cups. "I don't suppose you have a charm for keeping the rain off us too?"

"As a matter of fact," she said with a grin.

And that was how Ascella ended up sitting with Cho and the rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, she and Cho kept dry by Ascella's umbrella charm, her wand held up like the stem of an umbrella. While they were dry they were no less cold than everyone around them though. Ascella was good but she wasn't nearly that good - yet - to keep up both the umbrella charm and the calor heating charm.

"Listen," Cho was telling her just before the two teams exited their locker rooms. "There is a Quidditch Party tonight, to celebrate the kick-off of the season and you just have to come. Do not - I repeat - do not leave me alone with the rest of these boys and the other team members."

"Wait - the other house teams are invited?"

"Of course," Cho said. "All upperclassmen if they are on one of the house teams is invited - and allowed a single guest - to the inter-house Quidditch parties," Cho explained before straightening up at the announcement introducing the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and cheering with the rest as they were announced. Ascella screwed up her face at the last name announced though.

"Did they say Diggory?" she asked, trying to place where she'd heard that name.

"Yes," Cho sighed dreamily. "He's so handsome."

"Right..." Ascella drew out. "But isn't he a prefect?" Cho nodded, the dreamy look still on her face.

"Tall, handsome, a prefect, Quidditch captain. He is quite literally every girls dream bloke," she said.

"Yeah... um - no," Ascella said. "He sounds like a bore."

Cho shot her a look but Ascella was distracted as, finally, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was being announced. She could barely hear Lee Jordan's announcing over the raging wind and rain but she still knew when to scream and cheer loudly for Harry. Even Cho joined in in cheering for him, despite the fact that it would only be detrimental to Ravenclaw's chances if Gryffindor were to win.

"What? He's a good seeker," Cho answered the raised eyebrow look Ascella had sent her way, with merely a shrug.

Once the game started it went from bad to worse. No one could see anything - including the spectators. The only way Ascella was able to know the score was because the Ravenclaw seats were right next to the center box where they were displayed from. Gryffindor was ahead 170 to 70 in favor of Gryffindor and both seekers were racing towards the snitch, Ascella sitting at the edge of her seat. If Gryffindor caught the snitch they would pull way ahead in the Quidditch Cup race but if by some miracle Diggory caught it... well Hufflepuff would win and it would put Gryffindor at a disadvantage in the cup race. And then Ascella felt a sudden coldness sweep over her, chilling her to the bone. No, she had time to think before the world went black.

- "Marls! Run! They've found us. Get Asc - " a man's voice screamed in her ear, different than the one from before, that is until he was cut off with an "Avada Kedavra!" and a woman's scream. "NO! Mason!" "Out of the way you stupid bitch." "Wait - look who it is. It's dear cousin Sirius's little whore from school. Crucio" Screaming - screaming that ripped at her core sounded then. "Bella - we don't have time to play. The Order is on its way. Just kill her and let's go." "Fine. Avada Kedavra!" Then silence until - "MACK! Where are you? MACK!" then the slamming open of a door followed by a scream, more howl than cry, followed by the sobbing she had heard before. "Mack, Mack. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." -

"Ascella! Ascella, please wake up!" Ascella opened her eyes and looked up through blurred vision to see Cho Chang standing over her, rain streaking down her face - Ascella's spell must have stopped working when she passed out - and looking very concerned indeed, though she was the only one. The rest of the team and indeed the rest of the students around them were staring down at the ground, varying looks of horror and confusion on their faces.

"Wha- what happened?" Ascella asked, her hand going to her head, trying to sit up. Cho reached forward to help.

"The match is over, Ascella. Diggory caught the snitch - Hufflepuff won."

"What happened to Harry?" Ascella asked alarmed.

"Well - the Dementors showed up - " Ascella felt all the blood drain from her face - well what little blood still remained there anyway - as her eyes grew wide.

She clutched at Cho's arm. "Please tell me he's okay," she all but begged.

Cho shook her head, her eyes sympathetic. "I - I don't know. He - he fell, Ascella. Off his broom. Dumbledore managed to slow his fall but - " Ascella's head spun. She felt like she was about to pass out again.

Light headed, she asked, "Where - where is he now?"

"Hospital Wing. At least I can only assume. It's been hectic since - Dumbledore was livid that the Dementors came on the field - Diggory missed Harry's fall and was trying to demand a rematch but they won fair and square - "

Cho might have continued to ramble but Ascella cut her off. "I - I need to see him."

"Who? Diggory?"

Ascella might have tried to spare Cho a glare if she hadn't been feeling so disoriented. Instead she settled for a simple response, "No. Harry."

"Oh, right!"

Ascella tried to rise to her feet on shaky legs but she fell back down.

"Here. Eat," Cho handed her some chocolate.

Ascella took a bite and instantly felt warmth spread through her insides. She took another bite before, "Okay. I'm ready now." She successfully rose this time and pushed past Cho, the rest of the team and eventually, somehow, found herself outside the Hospital Wing.

Where she froze.

She couldn't move. She knew she needed to go in but she was scared of what she'd find.

Ascella felt a warm hand on her arm then followed by a person at her side. She looked and found a smiling Cho Chang.

"Come on," she said. "We'll face it together." Ascella swallowed hard and returned Cho's smile with a tentative one of her own.

"Thank you," she said grateful, her voice barely above a whisper.

Inside they found that they were among the first to arrive. Harry wasn't awake yet, but Madame Pompfrey said he should make a full recovery. Ron and Hermione arrived next and shortly after the mud splattered Gryffindor Quidditch team trudged in. Ascella paid little attention to them, only watching Harry as his chest rose and fell in steady breaths, holding his hand in hers.

"I should probably leave," Cho whispered from next to her, so only she could hear. Cho briefly glanced towards the team. "I'm probably not wanted." Ascella nodded. "You'll be alright?" the older girl asked squeezing her shoulder. Ascella nodded again. "Good. And look, if you need a distraction from all this, you really should consider coming to the Quidditch party tonight. It's in an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor and the password is 'Gwenog Jones'"

"Thank you, Cho. I just might take you up on that," she managed a smile for the older girl and then she was gone. Harry woke up shortly after she had left, much to Ascella's relief.

"Harry! Are you alright?" She cut through all the chatter the team had been speaking that she'd not been listening to.

He dazedly nodded and asked them all what had happened – to the game and to his broom – until they were finally told to leave.

Harry looked so sad when they were all ushered out by Madame Pomfrey that Ascella felt loath to leave her friend. She just wanted to do something special for him, find some way to cheer him up after the lose and what had happened to his broom. Then she remembered the invitation Cho had given her and she thought she might just have a way to cheer her friend up.

After stopping in at Ravenclaw, (she followed some fourth years up after dinner) for a shower and to change she headed to Gryffindor and grabbed Harry a change of clothes, before she snuck back down to the Hospital Wing. She waited until she saw Pomfrey back away into her office before she crept in. The room was quiet and dark and Harry looked to already be asleep.

Well that wasn't going to work, she decided. He couldn't go to sleep before nine on a Saturday no matter how early he'd been up nor how stressful his day had been.

"Harry," she hissed gently shaking her friend awake. He started awake, his eyes staring around wildly. He calmed when he put his glasses on and saw who it was. Then he grinned and sat up.

"'Cella, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here to bust you out."

"What? To go where?"

"Quidditch party," said Ascella simply. But you would have thought she'd asked him the world by the way he dramatically groaned and fell back onto his pillows.

"'Cel-la!" he drew her nickname out. "A Quidditch party is the last place I want to be right now. In case you'd somehow forgotten, I just lost my match and the Whomping Willow decided to take out all its rage on my broomstick."

"Well - okay, I can see where you are coming from on all that but look - it'll be fun! And something different for us. We've never been to a party thrown with the older years yet. The closest we've come has been Fred and George and their friends showing up at my birthday parties."

"No, Ascella," Harry shook his head. "I really don't want to go."

"Cho Chang will be there."

"Really?" Harry brightened, before catching himself and adding, trying to sound cooler, "I mean - really? Why would I care about that?"

"Shut up and get dressed," Ascella said rolling her eyes and throwing him the outfit she'd grabbed for him. He caught the shirt and trousers on reflex.

"My hair though -" he continued to try and protest. Ascela's eye roll was even bigger than before if possible.

"Harry. Your hair is always messy. So that's not an excuse to not go. Cho'll find the messiness endearing if anything. Besides it would be far stranger if you suddenly tried to change it now."

"Fine," Harry grumbled giving in, seeing he was out of counterarguments and Ascella wasn't about to give up anytime soon.

"Yay!"

They arrived to find the party in full swing. drinks flowing, punch spiked already, the Weasley twins comically dancing together while Andreanna Fawley spoke to her friend Declan Hawthourne and somehow dealt with the ridiculousness that was her boyfriend while Angelina Johnson tried to make Fred jealous by dancing sexily with Roger Davies (Ascella did not know if it worked as she had to turn away from the, fairly, disgusting sight - who wanted to dance like that with Roger Davies).

"Wow, so this is what a real party looks like," Ascella looked around appreciatively. She and Harry were walking arm in arm while Harry was subconsciously smoothing the front of his shirt, and looking around nervously. "What is going on, Harry?"

"You sure my shirt looks alright?"

"Yes, Harry. I picked it out so of course it looks alright," she said earning herself the eye roll from him that she'd been aiming for and that she knew would help calm Harry down. Then he froze, stopping so suddenly that Ascella felt her arm get yanked back as she'd kept moving.

"Argh," she grunted, rubbing her now sore arm. She was about to open her mouth and loudly complain to Harry about stopping so suddenly when she saw the look on his face. He was white-faced and staring across the room. She followed his gaze and immediately saw why he was so upset. In a mildly dark corner of the room was Cho Chang but she wasn't alone. Standing, talking to her, his head bowed was a very tall older boy that Ascella could almost place. His back was to them but it was very clear that they were both enjoying the conversation.

"Okay. Not the end of the world," Ascella tried to cheer up Harry.

"Look let's just leave," he said.

"Why? Who is that?"

"Cedric Diggory," Harry said, oh so miserable and defeated sounding. Ascella set her teeth then. That was why he looked familiar. He was the one that had caught the snitch instead of Harry. The one everyone said was so dreamy and perfect.

"Oh hell no," Ascella said. "We are not giving up that easily. You are way better than him."

"'Cella, that's nice and all, but let's face it; for today he's won. He won the match, he won the girl. Let's just go."

Ascella stared hard at Harry.

"Now that is not the Harry Potter that I know and pride myself on having as my best mate," Ascella said. "Look he's leaving her to go get some punch for them, I'll take one for the team and head him off - keep him distracted. You," Ascella pushed him towards Cho, "go talk to her! And don't be weird."

"But - but what would I talk about?" he asked her panic and a little bit of hope in his eye.

"Start with Quidditch and see where it goes from there. Now go! Before we miss our window of opportunity!" She gave him another forceful push and quickly crossed the room to where the Hufflepuff seeker was currently pouring a second cup of spiked punch, no doubt to take back to Cho.

And before she could think about the best way to play distraction she swept in and swept up the second glass from Diggory's hand as he was making to leave the punch table. She downed the drink in one swallow, her long blond hair falling back as she threw the drink back. She looked up into the very much surprised and bemused face of Cedric Diggory and with a smile said, "Oh thanks mate! How nice of you."

"Er - that wasn't actually for - " Diggory started. Ascella raised an eyebrow as she refilled the glass, throwing her wavy hair over her shoulder to still look at him. "You know what, doesn't matter," he finished with a small smile of his own.

And then silence, neither one of them saying a thing. Ascella shifted her feet desperately trying to think of something to say. She had loads of male friends but apparently when it came to trying to flirt and distract them she had nothing. And if she didn't think of something fast then Cedric was going to get bored and she would have failed Harry - who by the way looked to actually be hitting it off with Cho - but that would be ruined if she failed and Diggory moved off to steal back Cho's attention.

Luckily though, she didn't have to think of something as after the silence between them had drawn on an exuberant amount of time Diggory took pity on her and said, "You know, I recognize you - you are the girl that so unceremoniously ran into me on the Hogwarts Express." Ascella felt her jaw drop open - if she had been expecting him to say anything it certainly wasn't that. "And then denied it, laying the blame on me," he continued with a warm smile.

"What are you talking ab -" she started but then she remembered the older student she had run into on the train while looking for her fellow Ravenclaw third years. "Oh! That was you? Sorry about that. Bit of a stressful day for me - really the whole summer was, you know whole father escaped from prison thing. I'm Ascella Black by the way."

"Ah, yes that would make for a rather stressful day - summer. And I'm Cedric Diggory."

And they trailed off into silence again. Ascella didn't know what to do, or where to look so she ended up finishing her second cup of punch and refilling the glass again. She was just starting to feel a strange sense of warmth spread through her - she had never had large amounts of alcohol before but if she had to guess she'd say the sweet tasting punch had more in it than she thought and that she was starting to get a bit tipsy.

"Say," Diggory said to her for some reason seeming to be content trying to continue a conversation with her and using his still mostly full glass to point at her. "Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

For some reason that comment relaxed Ascella, as she rolled her eyes.

"Last I checked you weren't 17 either."

"Oh, you've checked then?" Diggory asked, one corner of his mouth smirking up, his eyes bright.

"Don't flatter yourself. Everyone knows you are a fifth year," (albeit she had only really had confirmation of this a few hours previous), "meaning, at most, you could only be 16. Unless you were especially dim one year and got yourself held back. You didn't get held back did you?" Ascella eyed him. Diggory laughed - he had a nice laugh, full and welcoming - made her want to join in.

"No, not held back. But I am 16, just had my birthday last month."

"Oh jolly." Ascella herself had had her birthday already this year and was 14 now. She was sure she was most likely the oldest in her year and it looked like Diggory was one the oldest in his.

"Why do I get the sense that you don't agree?" he asked leaning closer to her. They'd moved slightly away from the punch table and were standing at a tall makeshift ledge that served as a sort of bar height. And suddenly as hard as it had been to start the conversation it was now that hard to stop, she and Diggory engrossed in their conversation now, the whole conversation flowing easily. And while Ascella checked every now and then to be sure Harry still had Cho's attention, never once did she detect any sign that Diggory wanted to make his way back to the Ravenclaw seeker. She even found she no longer wanted to leave and, if she was really willing to admit it, she was actually starting to quite enjoy herself.

Ascella found they had more in common than she'd ever thought and that Diggory wasn't all that boring to talk to. They discussed Quidditch, told each other funny stories from when they were growing up - he actually made her laugh with a rousing story about how he'd once ruined an entire fancy dinner his parents had been when he snuck into the kitchen and had decided it would be fun to climb the multi-tiered desert cake, after he'd knocked it over he was found sitting in the middle of the mess, eating and magicing pieces of the cake to float around him - and they complained about their least favorite teachers (he somehow was able to stand Snape to Ascella's great disgust, his least favorite being Binns - but they did agree that Lupin was their favorite, though Ascella was partial to Flitwick too and he to Sprout). The evening had grown late by now when Ascella realized that almost everyone had gone, including Harry and Cho.

"It's past midnight!" she exclaimed. "Time completely flew by." She turned back to Diggory, hesitating because she really wasn't exactly ready to leave just yet. Talking with Diggory was different than talking to her other guy friends - they talked about more mature things, things that even she and Harry rarely discussed and he had a unique outlook to boot on a lot of the topics they discussed.

She bit her lip, "Er - it sure was nice talking with you but - er - "

"Would you like an escort back to your tower?" Diggory asked with a nice smile.

"Wha - what - I mean why?" Ascella sputtered.

Diggory laughed at her confusion.

"I am a prefect, Ascella. It's well after curfew. If you are with me, you won't get into any trouble if you get caught."

"Oh. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," she replied, understanding washing over her. And so that was how they ended up continuing their conversation as he escorted her back to Gryffindor Tower (she might have sort of mentioned that Gryffindor was her home Tower, not Ravenclaw - Merlin knew she didn't need the embarrassment of not getting past the riddle).

"So I have to ask,"Ascella began as they strolled along the dark corridor's, letting Diggory choose the path they took there - didn't want to show the Hufflepuff all the secret passageways and shortcuts to another house - figuring he must already know where the entrance was because he was a prefect. "If you are a prefect than why were you at a party drinking?"

"Quidditch parties are my one main exception to rule breaking," Diggory answered pleasantly. "Besides I've always felt that some rules are more important to uphold than others."

Ascella let out a short laugh, before she side-eyed him and saw he was serious. But she was still amused.

"Alright, well what are some other rules that you find more important to uphold than others?"

"Well, for one," Diggory said with a smile, "Escorting mildly tipsy girls back to Towers that aren't their home tower after hours."

Ascella's mouth fell open but at his grin she laughed and playfully hit his shoulder.

"You could have told me you knew I wasn't a Gryffindor!"

"And miss that face you just made when you found out I had always known? Never," he laughed.

"Why you cheeky - " Ascella stopped.

"Cheeky what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Cheeky Hufflepuff," Ascella grinned back at him. He threw his head back and laughed.

They made it the rest of the way to Gryffindor tower with easy companionship. The only time any awkwardness crept back in was outside Gryffindor Tower when it was time to say good bye for the evening - how did one say good bye to someone they'd only starting talking to in order to keep them away from someone else?

"So here we are," Ascella said trying to ignore the shouts from Sir Cadogan behind her. She had stopped and was standing facing the older boy with her back to the Portrait Hole and Sir Cadogan.

"Er - is that portrait trying to challenge me to a duel?" Diggory asked, his eyes trained over her head.

"Mostly likely," Ascella said dismally. "He's replaced the Fat Lady's portrait while she'd getting repaired. Password changes about every five minutes, too, I swear." Diggory shook his head in bemusement. "Look thanks again for walking me back." Diggory's eyes moved back to hers, a bit softer now.

"You are very welcome," he said.

Ascella shifted her weight around again, her arms moving back and forth, as her fingertips brushed her thighs. Did they shake hands? Hug? Oh no, not a hug, she decided her hands going a bit sweaty at the thought. She ended up doing neither, just putting her hands in her pockets.

"Well - er," Ascella shifted around some more. "See you around, yeah?"

Diggory smiled back at her as confident and self-assured as he had been all evening.

"I sure hope so," he said with a glint in eyes. "Have a good night, Ascella Black."

And Ascella smiled back (or at least she hoped she'd smiled) before darting through the Portrait Hole. She was breathing hard on the other side. Well that was awkward, she thought, before she shrugged and let it go, deciding it was time to find Harry and see how his night had gone.

She found him up in his bed, still awake but he was smiling.

"Good night?" she asked him, crawling in. He grinned wide at her.

"Excellent." Then he made to close his eyes before he said, "I meant to ask you, did the dementors affect you too? At the game I mean."

Ascella sighed and looked away, shuddering at the memory.

"Yeah," she said. She hadn't had much time to think about it between Harry's fall and the party but now that she was reminded of it, she found she didn't like what the memory implied.

"I think I'm starting to understand it. That man's voice I hear - it's his voice I hear. My father I mean. Him screaming and crying after finding my dead mother," she spoke hollowly, emotionless. It was the only way she could get the words out. Harry sat up and looked at her through concerned eyes. "He had to know who killed her. And he still joined the Death Eaters. Who does that?" She looked desperately at Harry, her eyes beginning to burn.

"He was devastated, Harry," she continued. "I have never heard someone so completely devastated. He was more than that - he was broken."

"Maybe that's why. Your mother's death pushed him over the edge."

"No, the McKinnon's - my mother's family - were only found because they'd already been betrayed by someone close to them. Ted told me that. It was him, my father - he was already a Death Eater. It was his fault she died." She grew quiet remembering what he'd said, My fault. She swallowed and said quietly, "He even said it: 'My fault,' he said. And he still worked for them." She grew completely silent then.

"I'm so sorry 'Cella. I hear my mum being murdered when the dementors come close if it's any consolation."

"Oh Harry," she said with a watery smile. "It isn't. It just makes me even more sad. What a pair we are, huh?"

"Yeah," he said with a sad smile. "Like we were destined to be mates, though."

"But of course," she said trying to lighten the dark mood they'd both fallen into. "But you and Cho had a good night, right?" she asked, changing the subject again to something lighter.

"We really did. At least I did - maybe she didn't though," he trailed off biting his lip and looking worried. Ascella smiled.

"I am sure she did too, but I'll do some digging if that would make you feel better." Harry grinned.

"It would," he said then fluffing his pillow up he added, "Thanks for keeping Diggory distracted."

It took Ascella a moment to register what he meant; she'd actually quite forgotten why exactly she'd started talking to Diggory in the first place, as she'd ended up so thoroughly enjoying the conversation but she managed to recover and say, "Ugh. You are welcome. And you owe me. I had to use feminine while and flirting techniques I didn't even know I possessed."

They went to sleep then, but it wasn't happy thoughts that occupied Ascella's dreams; they were dark, dark thoughts of a nasty murdering father - who may not have said the spell that killed her mother but who may have well have. And so it seemed her nightmares were to continue; she doubted sincerely at this point that they would ever stop – not until he was caught and behind bars again.


a/n: Well? What do you think? :)

Also thanks a million to all my lovely reviewers - that you take the time and shoot me a line or two is amazing! I hope I continue to put out chapters that you enjoy!