Atria heard voices speaking above her. She blinked a few times and looked up.

"Hello, darling." Ginny entered her vision and she saw Albus standing behind his mother. Charlie was there as well, speaking with a healer. She focused on Albus. He was looking at her, but he seemed distracted. Maybe he was trying to listen to what the healer was saying. "Albus said you were up a little while ago but fell back asleep." Ginny said softly, easing down onto the bed, careful not to jossle Atria.

"Yeah, he said I had been out for a couple of days." Atria eased herself up, leaning against the pillows. "I feel alright now though."

The healer took this opportunity to speak. She was a woman of about sixty and dressed in white robes. "Hello, sweetie. I'm Madam Hartly. How are you feeling?" She asked sweetly with a heavy slavic accent, but Atria didn't think it was Romanian.

"I'm good." She tried to sound upbeat, but she was hardly ever upbeat even when she wasn't lying in a hospital bed.

"You're extremely lucky to be alive." The woman said and inspected the wound on her arm. "It seems to be healing up alright. It was just a small nick, but with the burn there was a serious risk for infection." She said, looking at the clipboard in her hand.

"So when can I get out of here." Atria asked quickly and Ginny gave her a reproachful look. Then she looked hesitantly at Charlie.

"Well, we weren't sure if you would be going back." Ginny said slowly and Atria shot up and then winced at the sudden headrush.

"What?! Why?" Her voice rose.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Well, you wouldn't be able to do much here for the next week, and the wedding is only two weeks away and then there's only twelve days after we get back from the wedding." He said quickly, trying to appease Atria.

"And honestly, I'm not sure if I trust my brother to keep you out of the field." Ginny said and Charlie hung his head. "You weren't supposed to have face to face contact with dragons anyways. Especially not fully grown, Vipertooths."

Atria scoffed. "But I'm perfectly alright now." She argued. They couldn't actually make her come home! "And I'm adult!"

"You're also still in school and not qualified to be in the field." The healer chimed in. Atria turned her glare on the old woman. "You're not employed, therefore the Ministry is responsible for all damage that befalls you."

Charlie bit his lip. "She right. You're here as an observer and it was... unprofessional for me to let you into the field." Atria's jaw dropped. Even Charlie was against her.

"Now, wait a minute," Albus stepped up, "She took the test and passed. She technically does have the credentials to go into the field even without her N.E.W.T.'s. Maybe she can just work in lab." He suggested and Atria could've kissed him. Actually, if he stuck around after everyone else left, she might.

"Can you guarantee that she won't go into the field again?" Ginny asked her older brother, standing up and folding her arms.

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I can make sure she doesn't get a pass into the field, but I can't control what she does without the okay from above." Everyone turned to stare down at her. Atria huffed.

"Well, that's no fun." She muttered and she caught Al glaring at her. She remembered his attempt to understand why she was so reckless. Damnit, now she felt that she owed him something. This not-hating-Albus thing was hard. "Alright, fine. I won't do anything stupid." Atria crossed her arms.

"Your definition of stupid or mine?" Charlie stared down at her and she sighed.

"Yours." She mumbled grudgingly.

Charlie gave her a lopsided smile. "Excellent." He turned to Ginny.

"Oh go on." She shook her head. "But any funny business and you're coming straight home." Atria wanted to point out that she couldn't really make her come home, but thought that might be unwise at the moment.

Once that was cleared up, Atria asked how things were going at home. "I mean, it's been a month, have they caught whoever conjured the dark mark?" She asked, well more like demanded.

Ginny sighed, "No. We checked everyone's wand and combed through the castle, but there were no traces of anyone."

"And the girl who was killed?" Atria pressde on and Al gave her a disapproving look. Like she shouldn't be so forward when talking about death. Atria supposed she should be a bit more sensitive when it came to these things.

"A third year Ravenclaw." Ginny closed her eyes briefly and then looked down. "The killing curse… which is part of the reason we're having trouble tracking it. But we have got some things from the bloodroot that poisoned Amanda."

Atria nodded, two steps ahead. "It's only found in the southern regions of Spain and North Africa. Also it looked like she was just caught in a wrong time, wrong place type situation. I don't think he even meant to use the poison on her. It must have been on the tip of a knife or quill, and he just panicked."

"We don't know it's a he." Ginny chastised. "For all we know it could be a woman. Or a girl, for that matter. We still haven't ruled out the possibility of it being a student." Atria's alarm went off in her head. Danger! Danger! Steer clear of that topic.

"But how would a student know how to conjure a Dark Mark?" Albus asked and Ginny seemed to realize she was speaking to two seventeen year olds.

"I really shouldn't be telling you this." She pulled back, but Al continued. Atria almost wanted to say, I could do it since I was thirteen. Oh, and I pretty adept at the cruciatus curse. She bit her tongue.

"And the killing curse?" Albus added.

"Obviously, the person had training outside of Hogwarts," Ginny replied quickly, just to shut him up. Atria was amazing they weren't looking immediately at her and Sal.

In fact… "Sal, have you looked into him?"

Ginny nodded. "Ron and Harry immediately thought of him, but his wand was clear. And he has an alibi." Atria wasn't convinced.

"I must insist that she get some rest now," The stupid healer butt in. Atria wanted to protest, but Ginny nodded.

"I just need to speak to Al real quick." Atria said, looking innocently between Ginny and Charlie.

"Alright, we'll wait outside." Ginny said.

Al quickly cut in, "It's alright, I'll just meet you at the hotel." Atria nodded encouragingly. Ginny looked extremely suspicious, she knew the two didn't like each other, but Attie just smiled sweetly.

"Come on," Charlie finally tugged Ginny out. Albus started to speak until he noticed the healer was still hanging around. Atria glared at the woman openly until she left with a huff.

"So rude," Atria heard the woman mutter.

"Anyway," Albus rolled his eyes.

"So how have things been at home?" Atria asked immediately. "How is everyone? And Amanda, is she alright?"

Albus shrugged. "It's been difficult. We haven't had as much freedom. We have to schedule visits and outings..." He trailed off. "I was going to see Amanda the morning we got the letter from Charlie, so I have seen her since she got home. She was doing pretty well at St. Mungo's though." She sighed in relief, but there was still that nagging worry about the unknown culprit.

"And Rose?"

"Busy as ever." He smiled and she imagined he was thinking about how Rose always manage to work herself to death, even in the summer. "She and Scorpius haven't talked much. I know that was bothering him."

"Why haven't they talked?" Had Atria missed something? She couldn't remember them having a fight before she left.

Albus groaned. "I don't know. He feels like she avoiding him, but she insists that she's just busy... but she hasn't even written him." He rubbed his temples. "Well, except for to tell him about your 'accident'." He gave her a level stare and she giggled nervously. When did he acquire the power to make her feel guilty?

"Well, they'll have to speak at the wedding." Atria mumbled, thinking of ways she could repair whatever damage had been done to the friendship. Sure Rose and Scorpius argued all the time, but at least they were talking. Them not talking was worse than them arguing.

"Scorpius isn't going to the wedding." Albus pointed out.

"But wasn't he going to be in Spain with his grandparents during that time?" Atria countered. Albus shook his head.

"That was put on hiatus when the attack happened."

Atria ran her hands down her face. "Uh, how are we supposed to help them?" She snapped.

"Um... we could just let them fix it on their own?" He suggested uncertainly.

Atria glared at him. "Don't be stupid." Boys, honestly.

He sat back and stretched his arms, flexing his muscles. She glared at him for trying to distract her. "Come on..." Al whined, withering under her fixed look. "Look, they'll probably be Heads this year. They'll share a common room, come up with prefect schedules... they'll have to talk." Atria grudgingly admitted he had a point.

"Fine." She folded her arms across her chest and he gave her a lopsided smile.

Don't give in. Don't give in... damnit he's just too cute. She dropped her arms and sighed. He gave her a triumphant smile. Her stomach growled and he laughed. "I'll go get you some food." He stood up and started to leave.

"Not hospital food!" She called after him.

OOO

Amanda sighed and placed her book on the coffee table. There was just no way she could concentrate on her book, there were too many other things happening. Albus had sent her a letter saying that Atria was unconscious, but alive. Apparently, she had the good sense to try and ride a poisonous dragon.

Amanda snorted, as if a regular dragon wasn't bad enough, it had to be poisonous as well. And Rose was all over the place with her internship, which meant she didn't have time for anything else, which pissed Scorpius off. Amanda was to tell him off, because this past year Scorpius disappeared with Jenny so often, and now that Rose wasn't devoting all her attention to him, he got angry.

She rolled her eyes mentally. Boys.

She grabbed her muggle book, Vampire Academy, tucked her legs under her, and tried again. Ugh, she couldn't concentrate whatsoever and that was extremely frustrating because the book was getting good.

She heard a loud bang, followed by a curse. She looked up and saw a pair of jean clad legs sticking out from her fireplace. She jumped up as the familiar voice started to shout.

"James?!" She cried and rushed over with with a disbelieving smile on her face. The situation was hilarious, but shocking.

"AMANDA!" He hollered loudly, his voice muffled by the brick. He must have tried to floo in, but her fireplace was muggle and not designed to hold a person. The upper half of his body was trapped in the tiny brick chimney. "What the bloody hell?" He screamed and she stifled a laugh.

She was a horrible person, laughing at his panic. "What are you doing here?" She called to him placing her hand on the brink where his chest probably was on the other side.

"Bringing you the tickets!" He snapped.

"Don't worry I'll get you out." She told him and got on her knees to inspect the damage. His feet were tripping and kicking over the log holder, so she wrenched that out of the fireplace, accidentally hitting him in the process.

"Ouch! Woman, I have a game tomorrow!" He growled and she laughed.

"You don't need your legs to sit on a broom." She countered and she heard him huffed.

"That doesn't mean I don't need them for other things!"

Once she had the heavy log holder out of the way, she began to pull on his legs.

"Merlin!" He barked out. "There's this thing called magic." He said sarcastically, his legs flailing away from her hands.

"There's also this thing called the Trace. I'm not seventeen yet." Amanda snapped back. She shifted on her knees, getting in a better position so that if he came crashing out, he wouldn't land on her. "Okay, I need you to stop putting pressure on your legs. I'm going to lift them up and hopefully they'll come out, while the rest of your body goes down." She reached for his leg and he evaded her.

She rolled her eyes. "Wait, you want me to purposely fall on my butt?"

"Pretty much. Or you can stay stuck there until my mum comes home." She shrugged, purposely sounding casual, knowing that would freak him out.

James was silent for a moment and then spoke hesitantly. "All right." He muttered.

"Okay, on three jump." She told him and grabbed both of his legs, getting ready to pull when he jumped. "One, two... three." He jumped just enough that she was able to get his feet out from under him and out of the fireplace, while the rest of his body crashed down.

She shrieked a little at the loud crash and he groaned. "Ow." He moaned breathily. He propped himself up on his arms and shimmied the rest of the way out, so his whole body was out. Once his head was safely on the slate in front of the fireplace, he took a few deep breaths and then dropped his head back.

"Let's not do that again." He said panting.

Amanda laughed and kneeled next to him. She looked at his messy hair and the soot that was all over his face. She giggled again. "You're all dirty." She told him and he pried his eyes open to glare at her.

"You really need a bigger fireplace." He told her factually.

"People usually don't floo here." She said defensively. "Why didn't you write or something? I would have told you to apparate."

He coughed a bit and sat up, bringing their faces very close together. Amanda scooted back. "I thought I'd surprise you. Last time I do that." He mumbled, ruffling out his hair. Ash came flying out and she smirked.

"Well, come on." She stood up and offered him a hand. "Let's get you cleaned up." He took her hand and heaved to his feet.

James smirked. "You planning on giving me a sponge bath?"

Amanda flushed and pulled her hand back. She started to walk to the kitchen. "No, just a dish cloth." She peeked back and saw he was studying her house. He grinned at a picture of her when she was eight. She had on an embarrassing Hello Kitty shirt and pigtails.

"Cute."

She glared at him and then grabbed his arm and pulled him to the kitchen, making sure he didn't get distracted along the way. But once he was in the kitchen and started asking her what random things were.

"What's this?" "Oh, and this?" "What does this do?" He asked in awe.

"In squeezes lemons and oranges." Amanda replied dryly.

His mouth formed an O. "There's a machine just for that?" She nodded, turning away to hide a smile. She grabbed a clean dish cloth from a cabinet and wet it so he could wipe off the ash from his face. There was nothing she could do about his clothes at the moment, those would have to be cleaned later.

When she turned back around James was messing with the dishwasher.

"What does this do?" He started pressing buttons and she slapped his hand. He pulled his hand dramatically to his chest and simpered like a kicked puppy.

"It cleans dishes." She handed him the rag. He started rubbing it all over his face, smudging around the soot.

"Why don't you use magic?" He asked, frowning a little. She had to wonder whether or not he took Muggle Studies. He probably only took a year or two of it, she decided. And then promptly forgot everything.

"My mum does, but my dad and I can't so we have a dishwasher." She explained, finding the whole experience a bit weird. None of her friends had ever been over and then suddenly in a span of two days they've all been in her home.

"And what's this?" He went over to the stove and turned some of the knobs. Eventually a flame popper up and he jumped back a few feets.

Amanda giggled. "That's a place for cooking food." She followed him over and turned off the stove, while he glared at it for little while. When he seemed to forget about cleaning his face, she took the dish rag from him, rewet it, and rubbed his cheek.

"Fascinating." He said absently as she cleaned his face. She had to scrub so hard that he flinched away and his face was turning blotching.

"Uh, hold on." She washed out the rag and put soap on it.

Ah, much better. She thought as the soot started to wipe away cleanly. She glanced up and faltered as his green eyes stared into hers.

She quickly look away and turned his face so she could clean the other cheek.

"So tell me about the Harpies." She said quickly, dabbing along his neck.

He let out a long breath. "It's been grueling but in the best way. Like a massage." He shrugged and she bit her lip.

"Sounds nice." She said and then rolled her eyes. What a stupid thing to say!

"Do you like massages?" He asked abruptly and turned to look at her.

"I've never had one." She set the rag down.

"I've only had two, but it was really nice." He told her and Amanda had to wonder how they possibly landed on this topic.

"Cool." She nodded awkwardly.

"Are you coming to the wedding?" Another random question.

Amanda sat down at one of the counter stools and shook her head. James came to stand in front of her and shook his head when she motioned for him to sit as well.

"No, why would I?"

"I don't know. I guess I just sort of see you the same as Attie... sort of part of the family." He shrugged and played with a salt shaker.

Great, he sees me as a sister or cousin.

"Well, I'm not." She said a bit forcefully and then forced herself to calm down. "I mean, I'm really only friends with Rose and Albus." She added softly. He blinked a few times.

"Not me?"

Amanda snapped her eyes to his. "I guess. I always figured that we were really only friends because you were obsessed with Atria." She kept her breathing level and said it as casually as she could. Like she didn't care one way or another what he thought of her. What a lie.

James scoffed. "I'm not obsessed with her." He paused. "Anymore."

Amanda laughed stiffly. "I just sort of got caught in the middle. Almost like I did with Rose and Scorpius. In fact, we're all pretty much friends because of Attie." She couldn't even remember life before Atria. She had the vague feeling that it was boring.

"Yea, what did you lot do without her?" James asked teasingly. Amanda shrugged in response. "And I consider us friends. Just like you consider Rose and Scorpius friends."

Amanda sighed. "I suppose."

James frowned, his nose crinkling a bit. He still a some soot there but she ignored it. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Amanda shook her head and took the rag, tossing it into the sink.

She tried to smooth out her features and put on a happy face. It was funny to think about her life those first few years at Hogwarts. She had been friends with girls in her dorm and had a major crush on Freddie.

That made her smile. She couldn't imagine thinking of Freddie that way now, but as a first year he had seemed larger than life. He was the first Weasley to be sorted into Slytherin, and the only, and he was cute.

"Now what?" James demanded, having no idea what was going on in her head.

"Just thinking about Freddie." She mumbled absently. His mouth parted in surprise.

"Why?" He snapped.

She looked over at him. He was leaning against the counter nonchalantly, but his face was screwed up tight, like he was displeased that she was thinking about his cousin. Amanda grinned a little bit more as she decided to have some fun with him.

She wondered about his reaction, "I used to have a crush on Freddie." She said and gauged his reaction. He growled a bit and his lips twisted in a scowl.

"On Freddie?" He sounded so shocked.

Amanda nodded. "I thought he was cute." She told him and watched his scowl deepen.

"Freddie?" James repeated and she gave a quick casual nod.

"Mmhm. He was cute," She said, "now he's hot." Okay, that was a bit mean, but it made her stomach flutter when he got all jealous.

James stared at her speechless.

She took pity on him. "Of course, this was in second year. My crush was effectively killed when I saw him getting in a farting contest." She shuddered at the thought. James let out a choked laugh.

"Oh."

"Yes, it was all rather heartbreaking." She sighed dramatically. "He had no idea I even existed." She laughed to herself.

"I'm sure that's not true."

Amanda nodded. "It was true. The first time he ever talked to me was when you ran into me on the way to Hogsmeade at the end of second year. You were so excited and you just bowled me over." She smirked.

"Bowled?"

"It's a muggle phrase." She waved a hand dismissively.

"Oh, sorry." He said awkwardly. "I don't remember."

"You wouldn't." She shrugged. "It all happened very quickly. I only remember because it was Freddie Weasley and James Potter."

"Oh."

"So like I said. If it hadn't been for Attie, we wouldn't have become friends. The only reason you spoke to me was because of her."

James looked at the floor. "Sorry, again." He pointedly looked away and then motioned to the fridge. "What's that?"

"It's to keep for cold. Like how there's a spell to make sure foods don't go bad? That's what the refrigerator does." She explained.

He gasped. "It's a magic food box?"

Amanda giggled. "Not magic. Science." There was a few moments of silence. Amanda looked anywhere but at him. She knew he would look down and ruffle his hair. "Didn't you say you had the tickets for me?" She remembered and indeed his hand was in his hair.

"Oh yea," He reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Here," He was slow to hand them over. She looked at him as he stayed still and then she looked around.

"Was that all?" She asked finally.

"Are you going somewhere?" He asked, scratching the center of his chest absently.

"No, I just thought you might have other things to do... You only came to give me the tickets right?" Had she missed something?

"Well that and I wanted to check on you. I haven't had time to see you recently and you only got home two days ago."

Amanda blushed and looked up at him through her eyelashes. His high cheekbones had a pink tint to them. "Thanks, I'm doing well. I'm just worried about Atria." She said and then berated herself for bringing up Attie again.

But James just shrugged. "She'll be fine." Amanda nodded, amazed that he wasn't freaking out. "Do you have any of those moving pictures?" He asked suddenly.

"Movies?" She raised her eyebrows. James nodded enthusiastically. "Uh... yea?" Her response sounded like a question and that was probably because she was wondering why he wanted to know if she had movies.

"Maybe we could watch one," He suggested.

Her eyebrows shot up further. "Really?"

"Sure, it's only five and I don't have to be home until ten."

She smirked. "You have a curfew?"

He chuckled. "I'm sharing a flat with another rookie and he likes to be in bed by ten. It wakes him up if I come home late so I have to be back by ten." He rolled his eyes.

"Sure, what movie?" She started back for the living room and he followed. She knelt in front of a bookcase that had movies on the two bottom shelves.

"I don't know any. You decide." He stood in front of the coffee table.

She roamed her eyes threw the selection. "How about... Pride and Prejudice?" She mostly wanted to know if he knew the book.

When he shrugged in agreement she knew he didn't. "I really like it." She told him encouragingly and tried not to laugh.

"Sounds good."

Amanda bit her lip, her stomach moving with laughter. "I'll go make popcorn while the previews are running." She told him.

"Oh, can I help?" He asked excitedly.

"It's just..." She was about to say it wasn

She opened a cabinet and realized the popcorn packets were on the top shelf. She lifted herself onto the counter and stood up on her knees. She reached for the packet and then then hopped down.

Amanda turned around while opening the plastic and saw James looking at her with an amused smile. She shot him a glare. "You could have helped." She snapped and flushed from embarassment. She went over to the microwaved and pressed the two minute button.

"You didn't ask." He shrugged and went over to look through the glass. He watched the packet spin around and around.

Pop! James jumped back, a startled look on his face and Amanda burst out laughing. 't a two person job but what the heck, "Sure why not?"

She opened a cabinet and hauled herself onto the counter to reach the box of popcorn packages. She jumped down with the box and saw James watching her in amusement.

"You could have helped." She snapped, flushing with embarrassment.

James shrugged. "You looked like you had it under control." He smirked.

Amanda turned away just in case her cheeks were flushed. It didn't happen often because of her olive skin, but around James she felt like she was always beet red. She

"What's the point of being six feet tall if you don't help friends get things from high shelves." She muttered, throwing a package into the microwave. When she pressed a few buttons James came over to watch in amazement. The package started spinning and he watched with rapt attention.

Pop! James jumped back with a startled noise. Amanda laughed.

"It's the kernels popping." She explained. He stared at her blankly. "It's cooking." She rephrased and he nodded, taking a few cautious steps forward. There were more pops and James watched in fascination as the bag started to inflate.

"I always thought you would be more… used to muggle things." Amanda told him.

James shook his head. "We have a TV, but I never used it. I never saw the point really." He shrugged. "It always seemed to boring."

"Some movies are boring, but other movies are great."

The timer went off on the microwave a minute later. Amanda took a large bowl and grabbed the bag by the edge so she wouldn't burn herself. She emptied the popcorn into the bowl and then nodded back to the living room.

"Come on," She said.

She sat on the right side of the couch, her spot, and put the bowl on the coffee table.

As she went to put her feet up on the couch, James sat down. She paused not really knowing what to do. She had expected him to sit on the lay-z boy chair or on the far end of the couch. She tucked her feet up close to her, propping her knees under her chin.

She pressed menu on the remote and James looked at the backround picture of Elizabeth and Darcy questioningly.

"What type of movie is this?" He asked suspiciously.

"A classic." Amanda replied vaguely as the movie started to play. They took turns munching on the popcorn.

At the twenty minute mark James exclaimed, "It's a romance!"

Amanda kicked his thigh playfully, "So? It's a good movie." His hand whipped out and caught her foot.

"So far it's boring," He accused teasingly. "Are you ticklish?" He ran his fingers along the bottom of her foot and she just looked at him.

"No," She said dryly.

"Seriously?" He applied more pressure and she didn't flinch.

"Seriously, I'm not ticklish." Not on her feet anyways. She stretched her legs across his lap and he made a noise of protest.

"Whoa, what am I? A footstool?"

"You can move over." She told him. He made an indignant noise. "This had been my spot long before I knew you."

He just refocused on the movie.

A few minutes later, he shook his head with his eyes still on the screen. "I don't understand any of this. Why would she marry her cousin?"

"This is set a couple hundred years ago." She reminded him as if the old language wasn't a clue.

"Still gross. Like if I married Rose or Dom." He shuddered at the thought and moved his hand along her foot absently.

It had not escaped her notice that for the past half hour he had been rubbing her foot with his thumb, sometimes brushing up to her ankle.

Bang! Her front door slammed shut. Amanda jerked her legs back and James retracted his hands immediately. Amanda stood up.

"Mandy?" Her father called.

"In here Dad." She called and he came into the living.

She wondered what James was thinking. His father was Harry Potter and her's was a muggle teacher. His parents were cool and still rather attractive for being middle aged, and her's were… nice, but embarrassing.

Especially since her father was wearing a bowtie.

Her father paused when he saw James. "I didn't know you had company Amanda." He looked questioningly at her.

"I didn't know I was going to." Yea, she was totally going to blame this on James who was awkwardly looking down. "Remember how I told you I was going to a sporting event tomorrow?"

Her father nodded and recognition snapped onto his face. "Oh is this the lad who plays on the brooms?" Amanda rubbed her temple.

"Quidditch, yes."

"Hullo, Mr. Smith." James took a few steps forward and reached out his hand. Her father came forward chuckling.

"So you're a professional athlete?" Her father asked.

"Yes, sir."

"How secure of a job is that?" Her father asked randomly.

James opening his mouth then shut it. Then he finally responded. "Well it's pretty secure. I mean, I make a fair salary, about one thousand a month."

Her father looked affronted, "You only make twelve thousand a year?!" Amanda flushed.

"Dad, he means in galleons." Amanda said quickly, still unsure why they were talking about this. Who cared what he made? Unless her father was just curious what an Quidditch player made, but that was unlikely considering he couldn't even remember it was called Quidditch. "One galleon is about five pounds." She told her father.

"Oh, so you make sixty thousand pounds a year?" Her father seemed surprised. "But how long is the lifespan of an athlete. Amanda tells me it's a dangerous sport."

James shrugged, "Most things can be healed with magic. My career could be as long a twenty years. And I'm only a rookie. My mum was making about one hundred and twenty galleons at the height of her career." Amanda put her palms to her cheeks and shook her head. This was the most embarrassing moment of her life! Why did her dad care what James made and how long his career would last?

"Wow, six hundred thousand pounds." Her dad looked impressed. "And then you retire?"

"Or become a manager or something."

Her dad seemed satisfied.

"So James just came over to drop off the passes, but got distracted by all the muggle things." Amanda explained, drawing the conversation away from money.

"And you started watching Pride and Prejudice?" Her father seemed suspicious.

"Yes, I watched a movie for the first time over spring break," James told him, "and I thought it was fascinating. I didn't realize Amanda was so muggle, so I asked if we could watch a mover-"

"Movie."

"Movie… and she said okay and then she tricked me into watching this." James pinned her with an accusing glare but she just grinned.

"I asked you if it was alright." Amanda said in mock defense.

"I didn't know what it was?!" James shot back.

"I know."

Her father coughed, "Alright, I'll let you lot get back to it. Feel free to stay for dinner…"

"James."

"James, it was nice to meet you." Then finally her father left.

James let out a long breath and Amanda internally cringed. She could only imagine what he must be thinking. "Phew, I was worried for a second there." He chuckled nervously.

"I'm really sorry about-"

He shook his head. "It's alright. He was calmer than my dad would be if he caught Lily in that situation."

Amanda smiled a little. "Or Mr. Weasley with Rose."

James shot her a scared look. "If that ever happens I'm moving to France."

"I don't think France would be far enough away to miss that blast radius." Amanda said, glad to be joking out the awkwardness.

"I should probably go." James said after he finished chuckling.

"The movie's not over." Amanda replied automatically and then winced. She didn't want him to think she was desperate.

"It was crap anyways." He shrugged and she gasped.

"It's a classic." She argued.

"So you said. But still…" James trailed off.

Amanda looked away and wrapped her arms around herself. "Right. And you should rest for the game tomorrow." She tried to smile. James came over and put his arm on her elbow. He looked like he wanted to hugged her, but she didn't uncross her arms.

She looked up and gave him a small smile. "Bye. See you tomorrow."

He stared down at her and then leaned over and kissed her cheek. Amanda bit her lip and hugged herself more tightly. "See you… and Rose."

She nodded and then smirked. "You should apparate home." She giggled in spite of herself. James shot her a dark look.

"Yea, I'll never be flooing here again." He agreed and then left.

Her dad, probably having heard the front door, came into the room. She turned her evil on eye on him. He blinked innocently.

"Did James leave?"

"Yes, dad! Of course he left! He was barely here in the first place." She cried. "And then you had to give him the third degree! What does his salary have to do with anything?"

Her dad shrugged nervously. "I was just curious. I know what football player makes," He shrugged again. "Besides isn't being a professional athlete a big deal?" Her dad asked and Amanda nodded.

"I suppose so." She admitted. Her dad truly was just curious? "A professional Quidditch player, a good one, can be really famous."

"See, I just wanted to meet a famous wizard."

Amanda let out a long breath and rubbed her face. "Well, you have just met the son of the most famous wizard of all time." Her dad's eyes widened. "I told you I was friends with them." She went back over to the couch.

"Yea, but it's different to see it."

She slumped down. "I'm just going to finish the movie."

000

"What's next?"

"Nothing." She picked at her teeth.

"We've been doing nothing for a month." He snarled.

"We need to lay low. They're trying to figure out who conjured the Dark Mark-"

"So are we!"

Silence. "You already know, don't you?" He demanded and she took a long drink from a flask.

"I have someone inside Hogwarts."

"Then what are we waiting for?!"

"The more we do, the more clues we leave. We need them-"

"THEM?"

She sighed. "Yes. A boy and a girl. And we need them to stay hidden for a while longer. School hasn't even started, we can't give them up now."

"Then maybe you could clue us in on what we're doing. What the grand plan is?" He threw his hands in the air.

"To return to a pureblood society."

"And some of us were wondering… you're daughter…"

Her eyebrows got low. "I have not seen her since we were taken to Azkaban. For all I know, she's dead."

"And if she's not?"

"She'll find us. She might have an advantageous position, one she wouldn't give up."

"Are you sure she's still fighting with us?"

Her head snapped up. "Of course. She wouldn't abandon me."

"She was never a believer." He argued.

"But she will stand by me."

"I hope so." He sighed. "Because I remember her. I remember what she's capable of… and if she's against us-"

"You're scared of a child?" She hissed.

"So were you. We all were. Power like that… if we can't control it," He dropped off.

"She won't raise a wand against me."

"Three years ago she wouldn't have. But now… who knows?"

Okay, chapter 19! I hope you liked it. Be sure to review and let me know! - Alex