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Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything you recognize.

Sometimes life sucks.

Everyone has those days where you just want to crawl into bed and never come out.

That was what the whole week had been like for Atria. It was like walking on eggshells and having to look around every corner. And that's exactly what she did.

Aurors had been coming and going from Hogwarts ever since Saturday. They were in the halls between classes, peeking in on the common rooms, and lurking in the library. It was making Atria so twitchy she had almost cursed Al when he snuck up behind her during a free period.

And now… giving a witness statement.

Rose and Scorpius had been the first ones called in since they had played a major hand in damage control. They had also been asked to monitor any suspicious activity, which they did anyways.

Atria wished it was Harry or Ron interviewing her. But apparently they were "too close" to the situation. Instead she had some fat, bald paper-pusher asking her random questions in a dull voice. She even had to make her hair a boring dirty blonde color. Rose said "it would make her appear as less of a delinquent" if she didn't have blue and red hair.

"When did you first hear the explosion?" His eyelids drooped.

Atria sighed, "When I was walking to the Shrieking Shack. I was just at the beginning of the path when I felt it-"

"Felt?" The man raised a bushy eyebrow.

Atria gritted her teeth. "Yes, the ground shook a bit and it was so loud I think I went deaf for a moment."

"And then what happened?"

"I ran back to the village." She folded her hands neatly in her lap.

"Why didn't you go to the castle?"

"Because I figured people needed help." She shrugged.

The man smirked a bit and then his face became blank again. "From a seventeen year old girl who has yet to complete her education?"

Atria's eye twitched. "I just reacted."

"Did you see anyone suspicious?"

"Other than the people trying to kill everyone, you mean?" Atria asked condescendingly. The man gave her a dirty look and she stared at the wall. She wished they weren't in the dungeon so she could look out of a window. Walls were so boring.

"I mean, not a Death Eater." He sniffed.

Atria frowned. "I don't understand." The man seemed to enjoy this very much.

"As you may have heard," He paused dramatically, "there were two Death Eaters assaulted in a very crude manner. In fact, one of them had been cursed with dark magic." Atria swallowed and looked at the man.

"Well, they were Death Eaters. People were trying to defend themselves." Atria said unemotionally, trying to look as calm as she could.

"Yes, we understand that. However it is alarming that someone would have knowledge about such a dark curse."

Atria rolled her eyes. "Maybe it would help if you told me what spell was used."

"It was a curse, not a spell." The man snapped. "Have you heard of Sectumsempra?" He asked slowly. Atria controlled all the features of her face, making sure none of them showed recognition.

"Vaguely. I don't remember the specifics though." She shrugged, like it was unimportant.

"It can be very damaging if done properly." He evaded her prodding.

"I take it that it was performed properly?" Atria said dryly.

"Almost to perfection."

Almost? Atria had to hold her tongue.

"Again, why is this a bad thing? If it was used against a Death Eater-"

"This is extremely alarming information because it means that we have an unidentified wizard who had been trained in the Dark Arts running around." He hissed. Atria's forearm tingled a little bit.

She blinked innocently. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I didn't see anything."

The grumpy man gave a disappointed frown. "Very well, you're free to go. Please send Miss Smith in after you." Atria stood up quickly and got out of there as fast as she could without actually running.

There were three other students outside the dungeon, including Amanda.

"Good luck." Atria said to Amanda. "He is so stuck up." She said and Amanda sighed. She stood up and rubbed her hands on her skirt.

"I'll see you in a little while."

"I'm going to try and find Rose."

"Okay." Amanda took a deep breath and then entered the scary room.

The first place Atria looked was the library.

The second place was the Room of Requirement.

"Hey."

Rose looked up as Atria came in. Predictably, she had turned the Room of Requirement into a personal library. She was sitting on a gold and red couch with her feet tucked under her, reading a small book.

"How did it go?" Rose smiled sadly.

"He was so condescending." Atria growled and plopped down next to Rose.

She nodded. "I know. He kept asking me what gave me the authority to order students around." Rose scrunched up her nose.

"Um… you're the Head Girl."

"He wasn't impressed with that answer."

"I would have loved to see him interview Scorpius." Atria smirked and Rose giggled.

"Scorpius is the reason they started interviewing people individually. That stubby man started talking to him in the Hospital Wing in front of me, Uncle Harry, Mr. Malfoy, McGonagall and Merlin. Well, Scor made him look like right git in front of everyone. After that he said it would be better to interview students privately so they wouldn't feel the need to show off."

"What did Draco say?"

"He looked extremely proud."

Both girls burst out laughing.

Rose sobered a few moments later. "Did he asked you about a student using dark magic?"

Atria pressed her lips together. "He didn't ask about a student, he just said that there was someone who had been trained in the Dark Arts."

Rose shuddered. "It's sort of frightening isn't it? To think that there's someone lurking out there and we don't know which side they're on. Who knows, they might not be on anyone's side, they could just be looking for chaos." Atria made a face at Rose's rant.

"I don't want to think about." True statement. It was making her feel very trapped.

Rose sighed, "Hogsmeade has been cancelled indefinitely. Unless they catch the Death Eaters, it's going to be cancelled all year. There was even talk about cancelling Quidditch."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't worry, Scorpius put up a good fight against it. But there's going to be loads more security around the school. I just hope my dad isn't stationed here." Rose flushed.

"I think that's a conflict of interest." Atria assured her.

"Or they might consider it proper motivation."

Atria smiled and closed her eyes. When she heard soft sounds coming from Rose she opened her eyes and looked at her friend.

Rose had silent tears running down her cheeks.

"Rose!" Atria put her arms around her and pushed her thick red hair out of the way.

Her shoulders shook. "This isn't how seventh year was supposed to be." Rose's voice sounded choked. "It was supposed to be fun and free. We were going to be thinking about jobs and our futures, not wondering if we would even have futures."

Atria pulled back in surprise and then leaned her head on Rose's shoulder. It was unusual to hear Rose speak so darkly. Atria didn't know what to say so she simply held Rose until her body stopped racking with sobs.

"Everything's going to be fine." Atria whispered and rubbed Rose's shoulder comfortingly. Of course, that was a lie, but Rose didn't need to know that. Atria had thought about the day where everyone found out the truth. It was always in the back of her mind… and yet, she never thought it would actually happen.

But with the Aurors at Hogwarts, and everyone asking questions, Atria had a feeling that day was going to happen sooner or later. She dreaded it. She didn't know how she would face everyone afterwards.

Right now she was holding Rose, a halfblood, but after she found out would Rose want Atria to even be in the same room with her? And Albus? Would he want to kiss the granddaughter of his grandparent's murderer?

Atria quickly blinked away the tears that threatened to spill before Rose could see.

"Scorpius and I are supposed to meet McGonagall before dinner." Rose leaned up straight.

"Why?"

"To go over some new rules I suppose." Rose stood up and straightened her robes.

Atria smiled and sprawled out over the couch. "Have fun."

"I'll see you at dinner." Rose said and then wiped her eyes a few times.

Atria nodded and closed her eyes.

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Amanda ran from the dungeon as quickly as she could. It's not that she was afraid of the stupid man. It's just that she was afraid she would hex him if he asked her one more condescending question. This past week had been crazy and she wasn't sure how much more she could handle.

"Hey, Amanda!"

Oh, sweet Merlin…

"Hey Jack." She turned around and forced a smile on her face. It's not that she didn't like him, it's just she really didn't feel like talking to anyone.

"Oh, I've caught you at a bad time." He said immediately.

Amanda's mouth parted slightly. "Sorry, I was just giving a statement to some ministry official and he was…"

"A jerk?"

"Kind of," She admitted and some real happiness crept into her smile. It made her happy that she didn't have to explain every single thing she was feeling.

"Well, maybe we could talk later. Obviously, our last date didn't go as planned…" He trailed off and she gave a short laugh. "But I was wondering if you wanted to try again."

Amanda bit her lip. "Sure, why not?"

"Excellent! The ministry has a Christmas Ball every year and my dad just got a promotion so we're going this year. Do you want to be my date?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and rock back and forth on his heals.

"That's months away." Amanda pointed out.

"I know but it's the only time we can do a proper date since they're probably going to cancel Hogsmeade visits. I mean, I still want to see you but I thought that might be a good time for an official date."

Amanda smiled. "Of course. Um… let's talk more in a couple of months."

Jack grinned. "Of course. I'll let you get back to your solitude."

She laughed and shook her head as he walked away. It was almost time for dinner, but she really wasn't hungry. Instead, she went to the library to finish some work that was due on Monday.

She was so lucky that a simple guy liked her. He understood what she wanted and could pick up on her mood. But at the same time… why didn't he try to make her feel better. It was nice that he understood she wanted to be alone, but why hadn't he-

Oh forget it! Maybe she was just used to people being nosy into her business. None of her friends would have left her alone if they knew she upset. And James, might have been oblivious to some things, but he was always there. Even when she didn't want him to be.

Amanda sort of liked that about him.

"You're overthinking things." She mumbled to herself and then tried to focus on her Arithmancy essay. Tried and failed. For some reason, she just couldn't sit still. She kept looking around the library. There was hardly anyone there, just a few fifth years. Madam Pince was shelving some books with her wand.

There was a copy of the Prophet lying on the table.

Hold the phone.

Amanda frowned at the Daily Prophet and then summoned it over.

"Rookie James Potter Makes a Splash," She read the title. The was a picture of him flying around and then suddenly darting after the snitch. He looked amazing in his Harpies uniform. She read the article that continued on page six.

Apparently the Harpies starting seeker was injured in practice so James started in their last game against Puddlemere. She wished he was still at Hogwarts, or even in the same country, so she could congratulate him. They won the game by an obscene amount of points and…

Amanda's eyes narrowed as she read the last paragraph.

Potter look quite close an unknown fan. Our sources say that Potter and the mystery woman are quite the pair and even went out for lunch after the game this past Saturday.

She tossed the paper on the table and huffed. Why was she getting so bent out of shape over this. She had just had a date herself… but that had ended in Hogsmeade on fire. While she had been fighting for her life he had been making nice with some gold digger.

At least her incident made was the headline story of the Prophet and he was just in the bottom right corner.

"Damnit." She shut her Arithmancy book. Clearly she wasn't going to get any work done. She stood up and her chair pushed back and hit something. A cry made her turn around quickly.

A younger student was lying on the floor with his book sprawled out and his glasses askew. Amanda bent down quickly, apologizing profusely. "I am so sorry." She said while collecting his books. "I didn't see you."

The boy hurriedly got up and took his books from her, stuffing them back in his bag and clutching the bag to his chest. "It was my fault." He said quickly.

"No, it really wasn't." She noticed the Hufflepuff crest on his robes. He was probably terrified of a seventh year Slytherin. "Are you okay? Is there anything I can help you with?"

The boy flushed. "No! I'm sorry to be a bother."

"It's no bother. What year are you?" She asked.

His eyes widened. "First year. My name's Hector."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Amanda." She held out her hand. He shook it vigorously after readjusting his bag.

"I know! My friends won't believe me when I tell them I met you." He said excitedly and Amanda laughed.

"Why?"

"Because you're famous?"

Amanda smiled. "Oh, right because I'm friends with the Potter's and Weasley's."

"No! I heard you survived bloodroot poisoning! In almost all scenarios that should be deadly. Also, you are an amazing keeper." He flushed even more. Amanda was blushing a little bit too.

"Thank you. Are you sure there isn't anything you need help with?"

Hector shook his head. "No." He paused. "Well, actually do you know where I could find a book on underwater plants?"

"Over in that section," She pointed to the corner where she had spent many a nights doing a last minute Herbology paper. "There should be some on the second shelf unless they're all checked out."

He bounced up on his toes. "Thanks! I'll see you later." He hurried away and Amanda had to smile. It was nice to see some genuine innocence after all the doom and gloom that had been going around.

Still, she was in no mood to do an essay and it wasn't due for another week. After collecting her things Amanda made for the exit. Unfortunately, someone got in her way. This seemed to be happening a lot today…

Sal smiled charmingly. "Hello, Amanda."

"Hi Sal." She played with the strap of her bag.

"Have you seen Rose?"

"Not since earlier." She responded vaguely. Amanda wasn't sure why she didn't like Sal, and it wasn't exactly dislike, more like there was something off about him. She couldn't put her finger on it. Perhaps he was too suave. Or maybe she was spending too much time with Attie and had become cynical. Or the fact that he was trying to get on with Rose…

"Do you know where she was going?" He pressed, but kept the smile in place.

Amanda smiled dryly. "Nope. But I'm sure you'll see her at dinner. Speaking of, I had better get going…" She scooted around him.

"There's still a half hour until dinner."

She clenched her teeth. "I'm just going to drop my bags off." She turned and started walking.

He appeared next to her. "I'll walk you. It's dangerous to walk alone."

"There's Aurors crawling the castle." She said pointedly. Her good mood that the first year had instilled was officially gone.

"You can never be too careful."

"Right." She walked quickly forcing him to jog a few steps to catch up.

"It's been a crazy week."

He was determined to kill her with small talk.

"I know."

"That's right, you were in Hogsmeade saving lives."

"Hardly saving lives."

"Hmm. You know, I heard Rose was amazing as well."

Amanda internally rolled her eyes. "Of course, she's Head Girl."

"I feel like I've barely gotten to see her this year. Scorpius hogs all of her time…"

Just then, a brilliant idea hit Amanda. She turned to him and smiled. "Of course, they are best friends." She said casually and then looked ahead. "I mean, they've always spent a lot of time together; studying, hanging out, patrolling…" Let him stew on that!

"Of course." Sal said tightly.

Amanda bit her lips to keep from grinning triumphantly.

"I should leave you here. I'm sure you don't want me to know where the Slytherin common room is." He stopped abruptly. "I hope you don't get poisoned again."

Amanda's jaw dropped as he sauntered away. She noticed that they were standing in the exact spot where it had happened last time.

She almost ran to the Slytherin common room.

As soon as she was in her dorm her, she slammed the door and leaned against it. Was it just her imagination? That had to be her imagination. He wouldn't have said something like that. Maybe he was just trying to mess with her.

Amanda was really beginning to get why Attie disliked Sal so much. And why the hell did Rose like him? Should she tell Rose about this? She didn't want to make her feel bad, but Amanda was extremely uncomfortable with Sal trying to get close to Rose.

Maybe she should tell Albus and Hugo so they could scare him off. Or Scorpius! Scorpius could put the fear of Merlin in the smooth-talking Italian.

No. If there was someone you wanted to handle your dirty work… it was Attie.

Amanda arrived early to dinner to make sure she spoke with Atria. Waiting patiently at the Slytherin table she munched on some chips.

"Hey." Atria swung her leg over the bench and finally sat down for dinner.

"I have something to tell you." Amanda said immediately. Atria frowned and gave her a look while scooping some potatoes onto her plate.

"What?"

"Sal cornered me in the library and then insisted on walking me back to the common room. I was being pretty antisocial. I didn't really feel like speaking with anyone and he just wouldn't get a clue. Well, finally he got a clue and left. Before he left he said 'I hope you don't get poisoned again.' That's when I noticed we were standing exactly where I was attacked." Amanda whispered anxiously.

Atria lips formed a scowl.

"I thought maybe he was joking. Am I freaking myself out-"

"No, that's creep." Atria growled.

"Should we tell Rose?"

Atria bit her bottom lip. "I don't know. You know, I don't really like him but I don't want Rose to be discouraged. But this… this is something else."

"It's just, he's Rose's first crush. Well, her first serious one-"

"I know, that's why I've been trying to be supportive." Atria nodded.

"But he didn't sound like he was joking."

Atria looked thoughtful. "Maybe we could mention something? Just so she's aware."

Amanda nodded and then got a look of realization. "You don't think he had something to do with it? Is he connected with the Death Eaters?" Amanda hissed.

"I don't know. I've been wondering the same thing, but it's just intuition. I haven't had any proof so I didn't want to start anything."

"But now we have proof!"

"Hardly. He could have just been being condescending or trying to make a joke. And that's what he'll say either way." Atria leaned her chin on her palm.

"This is drama we didn't need." Amanda hissed and was embarrassed to admit that her eyes were a bit watery. They weren't tears of fear, more like tears of frustrations.

Atria cracked her knuckles. "That's it-" She started to stand up but Amanda pulled her back down.

"Wait," She whispered, "we need to be smart about this. You can't just go punch him out."

"I was going to hex him."

"There's three Aurors standing right there." Amanda jerked her head towards the entrance to the Great Hall. "We need to create a plan to extract the truth from him."

"Tortue?"

Amanda sighed, "No! Well, not physical torture. We should mess with his mind a bit. I think he likes Rose and he got really worked up when I mentioned Scorpius. I'm thinking if we screw with him enough, he'll lose it."

Atria stared at er with a potato have hanging from her mouth. "Who are you?" She said finally.

Amanda sat up straighter. "What? You thought I was put in Slytherin for shits and giggles?" She crossed her arms.

"I am so loving our friendship right now."

And this is why Amanda loved Atria. If she had suggested this to Rose, or even Scorpius, she would have been scolded. But not Atria, Atria just looked at her with admiration. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing yet.

"Hello," Scorpius sat down across from them. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing." They both said quickly. Scorpius gave them a suspicious look before focusing on the feast.

"I heard you got frisky with that ministry official," Atria smirked.

Scorpius sighed. "I was simply pointing out his flawed logic."

"Bucking against authority." Atria shook her head. "I love it."

"He did ask stupid questions." Amanda agreed.

"Seriously, how would a Hogwarts student would be trained in the Dark Arts." Scorpius rolled his eyes.

Amanda nodded. "And he was so condescending."

Scorpius bit hard into a chip. "I think there was a point where my dad was going to hex him."

"Your dad probably would have been arrested." Amanda laughed. Atria took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Anyways, how did your date go with Jack?" Atria asked, looking eagerly at Amanda.

"Um… up until the point where Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade it was going pretty well." She said, a little confused by the abrupt subject change. "But he invited me to go to the Ministry Christmas ball with him." She said excitedly.

"That's going to be so much fun!" Atria clapped her hands together.

"We'll all be there." Scorpius explained.

Amanda smiled. "Right, I forgot you lot go to that thing."

Attie nodded. "Yep, all the Potter's and Weasley. I get to go because James insists that I'm his date."

Amanda raised her eyebrows. "How's that going to work this year? I think I read in the paper that James had a new girlfriend." She tried not to sound bitter and by Atria's smile, she had succeeded.

"I've been going for the past three years, I doubt anyone's going to question my presence now."

Scorpius scoffed. "You shouldn't believe everything you read in the papers."

"I know." Amanda shrugged casually. "Just putting the possibility out there. So what's the dress code?"

"It's a ball." Scorpius deadpanned. "The dress code is formal. Extremely formal, like floor length ballgowns formal." Atria made a face and shuddered.

"I don't think I have any ballgowns."

Atria shrugged and scooped pasta onto her plate. "You've got two months to think about it. We'll all go shopping together. Rose and Lily will have to buy new dresses as well."

Scorpius looked over Atria's shoulder and made a disguested noice. "Ugh, Sal's talking to Rose."

Amanda and Atria shared a look and then smiled devilishly.