Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Draco Malfoy showed up within three minutes of each other.

"Ron is on the way." Harry said immediately as he stepped out the fireplace. Atria shrunk into the seat.

"Great, I was really worried about that." Atria muttered and Harry slowly looked at her.

His mouth worked and words seemed to get choked in his throat.

Amanda smirked, "I think the words you're looking for are "what the actual hell"." Atria tiled her head back and rolled her eyes. She couldn't really be mad at Amanda—this is what she expected all of them to act like. Scorpius seemed to caught up with Rose to be angry at her and Albus seemed pissed but happy.

It was too soon to tell Harry's reaction.

Hermione appeared in a green cloud of fire in the fireplace. All eyes went to her, but her eyes went to Atria. "You're alive."

"Yes, and before anyone asks anymore question: no, I didn't know you thought I was dead. Yes, I survived the house collapsing. And yes, my parents are dead. Did I miss anything?"

"The violent hurt you caused us?" Amanda chimed in.

"Everyone be quiet." McGonagall snapped and the room fell silent. Twenty five years later and the Golden Trio still acted as if McGonagall was their teacher and she was about to serve them a detention. "There are many logistics that need to be dealt with. The repercussions of bringing you back to life, for example."

Atria bit her lip. McGonagall was right of course, things were much more complicated than she expected, which for the millionth time made her feel stupid. Amanda was right—she never thought about others except when it served herself. She came back to Albus because she needed him, not because she was worried about him.

"What will the Ministry do?" Rose sniffed and bit her lip worriedly. Draco Malfoy appeared in the fireplace, a perfectly sculpted look on his face. If Atria had to guess, he spent five minutes before flooing over making sure there were no emotions on his face. She was grateful for his restraint because she didn't think she could take another person looking at her judgmentally.

Instead, he answered Rose's question. "Well, they can't do anything now. The Prophet already released that article naming Atria a self-sacrificing hero and the Ministry promoted that article." Draco shook his head.

"They did?" Atria gasped.

Amanda smiled for the first time since Atria had come back. "Yeah, Lily kicked their asses with some blackmail. You would have been proud."

"Proud of what?" Ginny asked, joining the rest of them.

"Lily standing up to the Ministry." Scorpius said.

"Where is Lily? And Hugo?" Rose asked, leaning into Scorpius. She was probably grateful that Ron wasn't there.

"I haven't notified them yet." McGonagall said and then glanced at the parents. "I assumed you would want to tell them."

"How do we tell everyone else?"

Ginny folded her arms and looked at Atria. "Are you planning on coming back to school?"

Atria was taken back. Of course she was expecting to come back to Hogwarts! That's why she came back! And she had expected Ginny to tell her that she had to finish her seventh year… that it was important for her future. If someone would actually hire her now.

Then Neville spoke. Atria cringed at what he might say.

"I think you should."

The shock in the room was palpable. Atria stared at Neville Longbottom with an open mouth and everyone else seemed to have a similar look on their face. "Really?"

"If you're going to convince the wizarding world that you're not a threat, I think it would be good for you to rejoin your classmates. Prove to everyone that your friends and family are with you." Neville said encouragingly and then glanced at Ginny and Harry, who still looked dumbstruck.

Harry shook off his stupor. "Of course we are."

To Atria's surprise Amanda agreed. "We always were and always will be." Amanda saw Atria's face and rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm pissed at you doesn't mean I want you to be served up on a platter for dementors." She folded her arms defensively.

"Thanks." And Atria meant it.

Rose sniffled, "So what do we have to do to prove that Atria is innocent."

"Nothing." McGonagall sniped. "Ms. Smith is correct. Once the Prophet published that article with the Ministry's support… it gave Ms. Williams—er…. Ms. Lestrange—full immunity. They can hardly condemn her after they named her a hero."

Atria's eyebrows shot up. "I'm a hero?"

Rose perked up. "You saved my life and sacrificed your own—sort of. And I haven't thanked you for that yet."

"Yeah, you were too busy crying."

"I thought it was my fault you were dead!" Rose shrieked and Scorpius rubbed her arm. Hermione hurried over to her daughter, as if she had been too focused on Atria to realize Rose's distress.

"It was never your fault." Atria whispered under Rose's hyperventilation. "If anything, I should have seen it sooner."

Hermione shook her head. "No one could have seen that coming."

"I should have."

No one replied. Atria looked at Albus and recalled how forgiving he had been. Then she remembered her last secret. Voldemort was her grandfather and she had to tell everyone. She was going to do it right now. The words were perched on her tongue, but got stuck in her throat. A noise must have escaped because Albus gave her a quizzical look.

"There's something else."

Everyone looked at her. Like what else could there possibly be?

"Tom Riddle is my grandfather."

She could only imagine their reactions, but Atria only focused on Albus. The shock was evident on his face, but he didn't seem too horrified.

"I KNEW IT!"

Atria looked at Rose. "How could you know?"

"Your father told me… and well, the timing would have worked out, I suppose."

"Oh."

"And Rose told us." Harry added.

"Bloody hell, I thought this would be a huge shock."

"It is to me!" Albus shouted.

"And me!" Amanda rubbed her hands over her eyes. "I need a nap… or coffee, I can't decide."

"So you or your mum could have opened the Chamber of Secrets!" Albus gasped. "That's wicked."

Atria shook her head. "No, just me. My mum wasn't a parseltongue." Harry frowned, but Hermione spoke quicker.

"She must have been. She would have been an heir of Slytherin and therefore, a parseltongue." Hermione's face screwed into a position of deep thought.

"But she wasn't."

"Then you couldn't be Voldemort's heir." Harry said finally.

Rose pulled away from her mum and Scorpius. "But her father told me."

Neville raised his hand and waited for everyone to stop murmuring. Then he looked at Atria. "Do you know for a fact that your grandfather is Tom Riddle?"

She hesitated and looked at Albus. "Well… no. I just assumed when I realized I could speak to snakes. The timing was right and my father obviously thought I was as well."

Draco cleared his throat. He had been so silent Atria almost forgot he was there. "And you were able to apparate out of Castel Lestrange. You wouldn't have been able to if you weren't blood related."

"I thought…" she stuttered, "that because my grandmother was technically a Lestrange—"

"But not by blood. Otherwise I could have apparated out." Draco said.

Atria felt like she had been knocked on her ass. Again. Two truths she had always assumed to be true had been whipped out from under her. "But…" she couldn't think of anything to say. This should be good news, but for some reason she just felt stupid. Like all the people around her knew her history better than she did. "I'm a parseltongue! How could I speak to snakes if I wasn't… you know!?"

Hermione stumbled of her words until she formed a clear answer. "It is possible for a person to just get the gift."

Atria was baffled. She was a metamorphmagus and a parseltongue simply by chance? Somehow, she liked the idea of there being a reason for it all. Instead it was simply coincidence.

"Then why did the Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin?" She knew the answer as soon as she asked the question. If Atria recalled, she was telling Albus about how she was a coward and did risky things to try to cover it up. "Nevermind."

"This is a good thing." Scorpius said slowly.

"I know, but two major things that I've held to be true… aren't."

Rose bit her lip. "But that's a positive thing."

Atria shot Rose a dirty look, unsure of her meaning. How could it be a good thing that her mum was dead. "How?"

"Well, your mother wasn't a mass murderer." She replied hesitantly.

Harry chimed in. "And you said your mother was kind before she 'killed your father'."

"Kind to me." Atria agreed.

"How is it that the daughter and granddaughter of Bellatrix Lestrange turned out to not be horrid people?" Neville asked thoughtfully.

"I'm not saying she wasn't prejudiced." Atria said quickly. "Because she wouldn't even go near most of you."

Albus frowned. "She would've wanted you to be with a pureblood."

"Who cares what she wants? She's dead." Atria said abruptly. It was probably the first time she had said it aloud, but it rolled off her tongue. She didn't give anyone a chance to process what she had said. "I love you." She leaned in and kissed Albus lightly on the cheek.

Ginny coughed. "So things are moving quickly with you two?"

"It's been four months," Albus said indignantly. Atria felt her heart swell at his pronouncement. Had it already been four months since she had agreed that maybe things could work between them? It had gone by so quickly, yet felt like so much had happened in those short months. It felt like a lifetime ago, but as if that lifetime happened yesterday.

"Four months?" Scorpius said slowly and Atria realized that Albus must not have given them all the details. They had no idea when the couple had gotten together and must have assumed it was somewhat recently.

Albus cleared his throat and avoided eye contact. "We decided not to tell anyone."

"Why?" Amanda demanded. "You didn't trust us?"

"We weren't sure if it would work out." Atria said quickly and Albus threw her a look.

"You mean you didn't want to admit you were wrong." Albus said dryly.

Atria folded her arms, "You were wrong about me too."

"And I gladly admit that you are not as horrible as I thought." Albus smirked.

Harry muttered, "Or as you could have been."

"Yes, it's a miracle I'm not a bloodthirsty murdered." Atria snapped sarcastically.

"It really is." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Where is Ronald?"

Harry rubbed the back of his head, further messing up his hair. "There was quite a bit to sort out at the Ministry."

Atria paled. "You told them I'm alive."

McGonagall scoffed and looked down over her glasses. "Well, it could hardly stay a secret forever."

"I didn't expect you to run straight to the Ministry." Atria said accusingly, even though it was completely irrational that she should be cross with them.

Harry didn't seem to take the affront personally and replied evenly, "We were in a meeting when the owl came through. Ron and I read it and knew that we couldn't both run out. So I left while he explained the...situation."

Draco folded his hands behind him. "Are they on their way?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Harry admitted.

"We need to get some things settled before we deal with whatever bureaucratic nonsense the Ministry throws at us." McGonagall said tightly. "I think your roommates will be quite surprised to have your bed filled again. It's hardly an administrative issue, more personal really."

"Drama." Amanda said wryly.

Rose wrung her hands, "But Attie will be able to come back to classes without any fuss right?" Atria had once hated the nickname her friends had come up with, but she was happy to hear it. 'Attie' almost sounded like a word of acceptance now—like there was some hope to return back to normal.

"There might be some backlash from students—"

Scorpius cut McGonagall off. "Harassment."

"The teachers and staff will do our best to ensure that this school is a safe place…"

"But people will hate me." Atria finished.

Albus took her hand. "They hate your grandmother. And father."

"And family." Atria laughed humorlessly.

"Why don't you go back to the dorm?" Hermione suggested kindly.

Atria swallowed, dreading seeing all her classmates. "Right now?"

"We'll send for you if the Ministry arrives." McGonagall said firmly and Atria knew that it was no longer a request—she had to go face the world.

Everyone was staring at her. She was used to people staring—usually in amazement—but now it was with malice and weariness. Scorpius and Amanda were on either side of her, but everyone else at the Slytherin table was sitting at least three feet away from the trio.

"They're scared of me." Atria said.

"Slytherins are known for being cowards."

Lily plopped down across from them. Scorpius frowned, "It's not just the Slytherins." Then he looked guiltily at Atria, but she waved him off. Lily ignored him and just looked excitedly at Atria.

"I'm so glad you're back! Things were getting boring." Lily looked at her with bright eyes.

Atria smiled. "I think boring sounds nice."

Lily sniffed. "No. Boring is boring."

Atria couldn't argue with her, but for some reason boring sounded like a good thing at the moment. It seemed like now that he secret was out, also gone was her desire to perform crazy stunts to prove something.

"Things will liven up with Quidditch anyways." Lily said.

Atria glared at Scorpius and he sighed. "I've already given her spot away and she's upset." Lily couldn't be more delighted with this news, which made Atria satisfied that everyone knew Scorpius was making the wrong choice.

"Lily already knows that," Amanda chastised, "she's just trying to stir up the pot."

The youngest Potter didn't look abashed in the slightest.

"Have we any news from the Ministry?" Scorpius asked, not so subtly changing the subject.

"No." Atria said grumpily. "It's been two days and they haven't stormed the castle, so I doubt they're going to do anything. As Amanda said in Minnie's office, it's not like they can cry wolf now after they've already pronounced me a sheep."

Lily grinned smugly. "Thanks to me."

"Right." Atria hid a smile and scooped some pudding onto her plate. "I keep hearing about this incident. I feel like we should call it The Great Matter and we'll discuss it at Christmas for years to come." Scorpius chuckled and smiled into his goblet before taking a long sip. Nothing was said for a pregnant pause.

Atria picked at the leftover chicken, not sure if she actually wanted the pudding. Rose was very insistent that she needed to put on weight, but Atria was never all that hungry. She wondered how long it would be until she was able to stomach a full meal. If she tried to eat too quickly or too much it gave her a horrible stomach ache. Not to mention the image of her parent's corpses that was always in the back of her mind put a damper on her apetite.

In effort to avoid her food, she glanced towards Albus at the Gryffindor table. Unfortunately, he was talking with Rose—actually he was talking at Rose. The red haired girl was staring off into the distance… right at Scorpius. And Scorpius was staring back. Atria would have loved to have been privy to their thoughts at that moment because they were going to burn holes in each others faces if they kept staring for much longer.

Atria was sure they had spoken to each other about their feelings, but hadn't enlightened their friends about the new romance. Given that Albus hadn't said anything to her about it, she was positive he didn't know.

Although, if Rose and Scorpius kept up with the longing looks Albus was going to find out real soon.

"Scorpius," she muttered without looking at him. He jerked his head and almost knocked over his goblet of juice.

"Sorry what?"

She rolled her eyes and whispered, "Someone is going to notice the staring."

As if to punctuate her point, Lily loudly said, "What were you looking at?"

Scorpius's face stayed straight and he replied evenly. "Albus. It's amazing how quickly he's recovered. Is he still cross with you?" And just like that, Scorpius had flipped the tables on Atria and put her romance on the spot instead of himself.

"He's…" Atria wasn't really sure. "Sometimes he feels the need to punish me and other times it's like nothing happened."

"What type of punishment?" Amanda smirked suggestively and Lily's face twisted in disgust.

"Please! Wait until I leave." Lily covered her ears and lept up. "Lalalala." She sang childishly as she walked off. Amanda rolled her eyes and refocused on Atria.

"Not like that." Atria scoffed.

"Have you…" Amanda trailed off, but Atria knew where she was going and blushed.

"No." She looked down. "Never had a chance. It's never been the right moment."

Scorpius was pulled from his thoughts and gave the two girls a weary look. "Are you lot talking about…" He couldn't find the words.

"Shagging." Amanda said bluntly and Atria gaped.

"Amanda!"

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably and Atria decided to take the opportunity to turn the tables on him.

"I can't be the only one with a love life."

Scorpius stopped moving.

Amanda bit her lip. "We've been occupied. How could we possibly start a new romance when we were all heartbroken over your death." Atria gave Scorpius a long look and he had the sense to look guilty. But after a long moment, she took pity on him.

"I wouldn't blame any of you for moving on." She said quickly. "I mean, you did replace me after all." Amanda and Scorpius both groaned. "Not that I'm holding a grudge or anything. But, have you thought anymore—"

A cold, wet substance poured over her head and a sharp gasp fell out of her mouth.

Scorpius sprung away from her, so the liquid wouldn't get on him.

"That's for my family, you bitch."

Atria was so busy wiping juice out of her eyes that she didn't even see who did it. The entire Great Hall was silent and McGonagall stood up quickly.

"Everly! Come to my office after dinner." She boomed across the hall. Amanda quickly wiped a napkin across Atria's face and when she was able to see again her eyes met Al's. He was staring in shock, but with every passing moment anger crept into his features.

After a few moment the students started whispered and mumbling. Atria ignored it and stood up slowly. She left the Slytherin table with all eye on her and felt her friend's presences behind her.

Albus's voice floated from behind her as they exited the large doors of the Great Hall. "Atria, wait!" She walked even quicker. She felt like crying, but no tears came and she knew they wouldn't. It was difficult to be upset when she completely understood what had just happened. And how could she blame the girl who had dropped a flagon of pumpkin juice on her?

"I'd like to be alone if that's alright." She said firmly, not bothering to turn around.

"Attie—" Rose started.

"I'm alright." Atria insisted. "I should clean up though, shouldn't I?"

"Will you be back in the common room?" Amanda asked softly.

"Yes, I think so. Unless Rose wants to let me soak in her Head's bathroom."

Rose turned up her nose. "That is for the Heads only."

Atria laughed at how much had changed but some things always stayed the same.

"Everything will get better." Scorpius assured her.

"I know."

Albus gripped her arm to stop her from charging forward. "Promise you'll come find me later." She looked into his green eyes and felt lighter.

"You have the map. You find me." She teased and a ghost of a grin flitted across his face. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and laughed.

"You taste like pumpkin juice."

Amanda barked out a laugh and Rose giggled.

"We should get back to dinner. Pretend like nothing's happened." Amanda suggested and Atria made her exit. Just as she was turned around the corner, she heard Scorpius say, "Actually, Rose and I have something we want to tell you."

"I can't believe they didn't tell us." Albus exploded when she walked into the Room of Requirement. He had obviously been sitting there anxiously waiting for her to come in. Atria signed as she sat down next to him, enjoying the comfy space he had created.

She rubbed his arm soothingly. "Was it really such a surprise?" Albus looked at her like she had smacked him over the head. "I mean… it makes sense."

"She's my cousin!"

"And Scorpius is mine." She fired back.

Albus sputtered, "But he's experiences!"

"One snotty girlfriend is hardly experience."

"Oh, don't act like you don't know."

Atria sighed, thinking this was getting them nowhere. "He is in love with her."

"That's what he said."

"And it's true!" She insisted, gripping his bicep. He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. Black hair fell into his eyes, shielding them from Atria. She brushed some pieces back from his face and he pressed his cheek into her palm. "I love you."

"I love you." He replied, somewhat reluctantly as if he didn't want to give into her argument. "But they share a room. A private dormitory where no one else is around."

"He won't hurt her. And she wouldn't let him—you must have more faith in Rose, she can take care of herself." She stroked the pad of her thumb over his cheekbone. Her finger trailed down the edge of his jaw until it reached his chin. Atria turned his face to look at her. "You wouldn't like it if someone—especially someone you care about—told you that we couldn't be together."

He sighed. "No, I wouldn't."

"And you have more experience than me."

"You've had two boyfriends."

"And I'm still a virgin." Atria raised her eyebrows as his mouth flopped open and closed.

He choked out, "How do you know I'm not?"

"You told Rose."

Albus jerked back. "I knew when she came to me asking about shagging you had to be involved."

"Amanda was involved as well! But that's hardly the point." She dismissed his crossness.

"What is the point?" He asked, annoyed.

"Everyone deserves to be happy. No matter their past. You will have people tell you that I'm not good enough for your because of my lineage, but you still think Scorpius isn't good enough because he has 'experience'?" She tried to make him understand. "Will you abandon me because I'm not good enough for you?"

"Of course not—"

"Then how can you expect Scorpius to give up Rose?"

He didn't respond for a long time and when he did, he changed the subject.

"Do you remember when we talking about what would happen after graduation?" He asked hesitantly. She recalled their conversation about where they would live and if it would be together.

"Yes."

"You were so… hesitant."

"I didn't want to give you false hope."

"And now?"

Atria scooted closer to him and pushed him back slowly. He lay sprawled in the corner of the couch with one arm slung over the back and the other draped across the arm. She crawled on top of him and propped herself up with a hand on his chest.

"I still think the plan we came up with was a good one. Amanda, Rose, and I should share an flat and you and Scorpius should be flatmates as well. We could live close or even in the same building." Atria said excitedly as he hands smoothed over her hips.

"What if Rose and Scorpius want to share?"

Atria paused, but soon brushed off that idea. "Rose will want her own space. And if we each roomed together then where would that leave Amanda?"

"I suppose we should talk about it with the others."

"It might be a good idea to include them in the discussion about their futures." Atria said humorously. She ran her hand up his chest to his neck and then leaned down and kissed him. He responded eagerly and she melted into his kiss. It seemed like it had been forever since they had had a good snog.

For a few minutes, she forgot the past few months—hell, she forgot all of her past—especially as his mouth broke from hers and trailed across her jaw. He started to shift and after some maneuvering, Albus flipped her to her back. She gasped and he aligned his body with hers.

"Please." She whispered into his mouth. Atria wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him on. He pulled his shirt over his head, revealing his muscular chest. She briefly remembered mocking him because he was too bulky to be a seeker. Well, she was hardly complaining now. The ripples in his stomach were too sexy to describe.

He separated their lips by two inches and whispered rough words. "Attie, I want you." He wasn't asking permission, but there was a question behind his words. He wanted to be sure that she was sure.

"I want you too." She rasped. "Does this mean you've forgiven me?" She asked carefully, not wanting to spook him.

"Forgiven, not forgotten." Albus replied with a teasing smirk and pressed his mouth to hers once more. He kissed her desperately and with ferocity that she had never experienced before.

When she opened her eyes while he was pulling her blouse off, she noticed that they were no longer lounging on a couch, instead laying on a luxurious bed. Atria wasn't sure when the Room of Requirement changed—when one of them had decided that they required a bed, but she wasn't sure when that was. It certainly hadn't been a conscious thought in her mind.

Once all their closed were discarded, she took the time to fully appreciate his body. They spent hours kissing and touching each other everywhere. Atria wasn't sure what she had expected from her first time, but complete and utter ecstasy was not it. Apparently the notion that sex was better with someone you loved wasn't bully.

Maybe it was because they spent so long testing and tasting before the joining, that by the time it happened she was practically begging for it.

And afterwards was like a dream as well. Their bodies slicked with sweat, pressed together, and never letting go.

This is what Atria wanted for the rest of her life and she wanted it with Albus.

Hello everyone! If anyone is still there, thanks for being patient and waiting! Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! - Alex